


Inconsistent Tempos

by pandemicaa



Category: Dancetale (AU of Undertale), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Female Reader, Flutes, Frisk has a gender, Frisk is female, Music, Reader is a musician, Saxophones, Sorry Not Sorry, Swearing, What am I doing, and by that i mean set talents, and personality, and sans., bad puns courtesy of the author, bcs., etc. - Freeform, fem!reader - Freeform, i shouldn't be allowed to tag lol, i'm putting my ocs in here, or used to be, people swear basically, reader has some set attributes, reader swears, right..?, slow burn ig, so does Sans, so it's fine, sorry whoops, tbh i'm winging this, they don't do much - Freeform, trombones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandemicaa/pseuds/pandemicaa
Summary: (Y/n) is a girl closed off from most of society; the main thing keeping her somewhat relevant is one of her all time passions-- music.You are an anonymous composer who ends up being called in to compose a little something for a group of monsters. It's an.. interesting experience, to say in the least. One cheery (and might I add persistent) skeleton leads to another skeleton practically breathing down your neck, and boy is it uncomfortable.Whatever.But man, is the music they're asking for going to be inconsistent in tempo, along with every other thing in music.<>Just another one of those introvert-meets-monsters-and-her-life-changes fics that you see a lot.Dancetale (c) teaandstarsUndertale (c) Toby Fox





	1. Just a Boring Prologue

_‘This song is in the time of 2/4, judging by its pacing and note rhythms. Noted. I should be able to have this song out as a music sheet for the next requester in a few.’_

You had your earbuds in, strolling through the streets of Ebott City. The normal, busy hum of Ebott City was all but mute to your ears due to the fact that your earbuds tended to block out the sound. Sometimes it was a great thing-- other times, it was kind of troublesome. You couldn’t tell if people were getting your attention or not with speech most of the time, since you almost always had them in, listening to music and whatnot.

You were leaving a dance studio, planning to make a beeline straight to your humble apartment. Contrary to what the people at the front counter of the dance studio might believe, you actually didn’t dance there. You were merely there to help with figuring out what the dancer wanted for a song-- composition. That stuff.

You were a composer; you were kind of.. famous but in an unknown way. Your melodies were always recognized. However, nobody was able to place a name on your face-- because you always left your pieces signed off as ‘composed by anon’. You didn’t want to deal with being known; sure, composers weren’t as big as something like a sports celebrity or actor, but it was fame nonetheless. And you never liked such stuff.

You knew firsthand how vicious fame was.

First glance, fame seemed innocent enough. People were fooled, wanting to become a part of fame. Of course, people later learned just how bothersome being famous could be. Paparazzi, if one was famous enough, which was lurking just about everywhere. Annoying fans. People constantly trying to one-up you. Every single move of yours being watched. Being judged everywhere-- being asked if you’re that famous person everyone knew. Being unable to lead a normal, humble life. Sometimes the person who was subject to fame became corrupt themselves, which led to another whole onslaught of drama. You, personally, didn’t exactly enjoy such drama.

How could you? You found drama pointless. You didn’t care about any ‘spice’ in your life. You just wanted to die alone with your cats-- kidding, you didn’t have any cats. The closest thing to something being alive was a single potted cactus in your bedroom. It was a gift from your mother before you were left alone to fend for yourself.

You knew it was going to happen someday-- you would have to go on alone in life. Life was irritating that way-- you were sure many people were well acquainted with the cruelties of life and whatnot. You certainly were. Maybe your issues weren’t the worst-- thank goodness for that, of course-- but they were still issues nonetheless. Well, at least you didn’t fall to the very bottom. Even with your mother around, both of you weren’t exactly rich and happy; you both still struggled financially.

You finally managed to secure your situation to some point, though. You moved out to a new apartment-- speaking of which.

The grey apartment, familiar to your sight, approached. It was located in a more desolate area-- at least, it used to be. Before that day, this area was rather empty. Hence why you chose such a location. Sure, it was a bit far from places, but you never minded that-- okay, maybe that was a teensy lie. You didn’t own a vehicle, so you always ended up having to either walk to places or take public transportation; those trips were never short.

The worn-appearing key was pushed into the keyhole and twisted as a soft clicking sound occurred. Not that you heard; you still had your earbuds. You had to admit, you had been enjoying this song for a while now. You had planned to turn it into an actual sheet of music for flute-- or any instrument, really. The person requesting for it to be turned into flute sheet music was a mere excuse for you to have a real reason for making sheets for this particular song.

Locking the door behind you, you took your earbuds out and held them in one hand as you trotted over further into the confines of your comfy apartment space. It was.. messy. Not with clothes or food-- but, well, with sheet music and instruments. Not to say that they were tossed on the floor-- no, you would never do something as to placing instruments on the ground for anyone to step on-- but it was just that they were so numerous that it gave off the feeling as if the room was messy.

You could probably afford a larger apartment with what you had, but why were you going to give up such a nice, empty location? You weren’t exactly what one would call a ‘peoples’ person. You were one of the many introverts on the face of Earth. It didn’t help your introversion that people were, put bluntly, dickheads.  
With a small sigh, you plopped down on your sofa and picked up your laptop, all personalized and whatnot with stickers. The faint glare of the screen was prominent in the dark. You knew what your mother would say to you if she saw you doing such a thing;

_“(Y/n)! Turn on the lights, ‘kay? That’s not good for your eyesight!”_

_“Alright, mom,”_ you would always respond with a snort. And then promptly continue your activities in the dark. Hey; the light switch was too far for you to care.

Of course, you always regretted not doing more for your mother.

“Eugh, I hate how stupidly hot summers are here in Eb,” you scowl as you got up to open your curtains. “Ebott City needs to be colder.”

You promptly plopped back down; you’d take your shower after you finished transposing the music. Work before your personal needs-- that was your priority list. Your mother always held you down and took care of you. But now, you were-- well, kind of irresponsible in terms of taking care to remember stuff about yourself.

Perhaps that was just something with turning into a workaholic.

How would your old friends react to this? (Y/n) (L/n), twenty-three years. Single. Employed-- to, like, ten jobs. That was an exaggeration. It was really only around three or so.

You had really needed the jobs you worked in the past; now, you could manage quite well, but you never got out of the habit of working constantly. Whether it was going to meet up with a client-- seriously, you needed more respect for putting on all those surgical masks and sunglasses along with heavy and baggy clothes to keep your identity unknown-- or working a shift in the coffee store, you’d always end up working something every day. Breaks? Ha, what were those?

You typed away, opening up the program you used for creating music and getting to work. Once you finished that, you’d take a quick shower and take care of your hygienic needs and then working on another request. Requests were free for the most part, but you still counted them as some sort of work-- something to keep you occupied. You began setting up the score.

The song itself wasn’t that hard; there were many lyrical parts and very minimal instrumental bits which gave you more to work with. It was more of a challenge with the more instrumental songs since instrumentals never had a single melody that one could focus on. The rhythms of the song were quite basic, too. At least, to you, anyway; but that was coming from an experienced musician. Or, well, a person who played instruments and probably could become a musician. You never opted for playing the music you made--

Just because, personal reasons.

_“Wow, (Y/n)! You’re so good at the flute, and you just picked it up this year!” a girl smiled widely at you, clapping after the small performance you gave. “I wish I was as good as you! Well, I’m sure it’ll be easy enough! If only you were as good at actually learning how to socialize! Oops, there’s the bell. I’m going on ahead, okay, (Y/n)?”_

You lean back against the sofa and let out a small yawn. Your (e/c) hues flicked over to the clock you mounted up on the wall. It was already really late; later than when you normally went to sleep. Well, you supposed that was what happened when you abandoned the shower and decided to work on some more requests.

You got up from your spot, though not after closing your laptop and made way towards the bathroom after grabbing pajamas and your towel. You didn’t bother locking the door-- you didn’t share your apartment. With a small hum, you undressed and tossed your clothes away and then turned on the water. The water was mildly warm-- though it was a bit colder. You never enjoyed piping hot showers in summer-- summer was already hot enough as is, really.

The familiar feeling of water harshly hitting your scalp was jolting-- not because it was unexpected. You didn’t take too long to shampoo and condition your hair and wash your body. You were quick when it came to any personal needs of yours-- so you could finish stuff. With a lazy ruffle of your hair, you dressed and began brushing your teeth. You didn’t eat before, but it was fine; you had breakfast and that was good enough for today. You miscalculated how stubborn you’d be today, really.

You walked out of the bathroom and went to your bedroom, hardly bothering to do anything else but just faceplant onto the bed. You really tried to go to sleep, but alas-- you never had the ability to just sleep whenever. It always took you at least an hour-- an hour of shut-eye while contemplating life and life decisions. Oh goodie. There wasn't much to contemplate regarding current day, really.

Tomorrow's just going to be yet another day, with everything in routinely order. Just as always. Sure, monsters were now apparently a thing-- the mystifying tales that your mother told you about them were always leaving you with a wish of monsters to be a reality-- but they didn't do much that made your life different. They were people too, really. You snorted quietly at yourself into the fluffy pillow you owned at the memory. The memory of how you first reacted when monsters were first announced.

 

_"I wonder what people are talking about on the news today. A murder case, perhaps?"_

_You yawn, plopping down on your couch. For once, you were allowing yourself some you-time._ You time _, which never happened. Not with you. You had decided to go catch up on current events; it had been a while since you had last done so. Well, they never really spoke about anything that particularly caught your eye. You always ended up sitting for a good five minutes before you got bored and ended up going to do something else, like read a good novel-- or play some music. Whatever you were feeling._

_"Monsters have risen up to the surface from beneath Mt. Ebott..."_

_You choked promptly on your caffeinated drink, keeling over a bit as you sat there coughing up a storm. Monsters. Monsters, monsters,_ monsters _. Fictional creatures that people made up for the sake of telling little children bedtime stories and whatnot; monsters. The creatures that your mother spoke so fondly of to you, telling stories of great feats that monsters had supposedly done. For a split second, you forget about the lack of presence of a certain soul and turn around, excitement daring to creep into your elated gaze as you turned to the kitchen of the apartment._

_"Ma, ma, look! Monsters are real--"_

_Suddenly, you feel very childish, quickly realizing that your mother was absent. Right, 'course she was. You bite your tongue as you inhaled; right, don't focus on that. Back on the news._

_You flipped to the next channel, wondering what other weird news they had._

_"They've come with gold--"_

_Next._

_"Their saviour is a child! A mere child-"_

_Next.._

_"We should welcome them--"_

_Next, please._

_"They should've stayed beneath the mountain where they belong--"_

_God fucking damnit, what's next?_

_"People are unsure of how to react--"_

_Okay, the news was exciting (though you squashed that excitement quickly, muting it), but hell, was it actually all that was being spoken about? Maybe you were being idiotic, you supposed the existence of some magical, spooky monsters was kind of shocking, but you thought that there'd be at least one channel._

_Finally, after listening a bit more on the different opinions on monsters, you decided to just go back to catch some extra hours of sleep._

 

You had definitely reacted a bit strangely, now that you thought back about it. At first, you had become a child from your past, a side you thought had perished throughout the times. Then you quickly went to indifferent and even a little annoyed at the content of the news. How long had this been, anyway-- two years, give or take? You didn't usually keep track of time. Not when you found a little loophole in the whole 'life' thing.

But that's aside from the point.

You acted a lot more surprised than you should've back then, really. Overreacted. Your mother definitely would've teased you... ah, there's that pang of hurt. You open your eyes, only to shut them again tightly, wanting sleep to overcome your senses soon.

Oh, there it is; the usual creeping grogginess is coming. Time to retire your thoughts, you supposed.

And you fell into a not-so dreamless sleep.

And you fell into a not-so dreamless sleep.


	2. Dancing, Prancing Monsters. Sure, Why Not?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> where the story actually kind of starts
> 
> warnings: talk of fucking, monster racism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so idk how this works, i'm just some human trying to kill time
> 
> sue me.
> 
> pretend this is all accurate in the world of.. whatever world this is.

“Good morning, (Y/n). Need your daily dose of caffeine?”

A female, pinkish humanoid rabbit grinned at you when you approached the counter. You merely nodded sleepily before said bunny seemed to produce a cup of your beverage out of nowhere and handed it to you before you entered to go change into your uniform. The cup was still quite hot; that probably wasn’t a good choice for you, considering how sweltering it was outside. But whatever; caffeine was caffeine. You finished your cup easily and changed quickly. No later than a few minutes did you come out.

“As quick as ever,” the monster mused, grinning.

“Well, you know me, Iridine,” you shrug as you turned to where you’d be working. You handled the coffee making; you struggled heavily when it came to customer service. Your friend-- you had become well acquainted with her through work and a ton of misunderstandings-- was great at socializing. “Sooner than later is pretty much my motto.”

Iridine nodded, ears bouncing a bit. Ah, monsters. It had been two years or something-- you haven’t really socialized with any save for Iridine. You didn’t see why you had to begin becoming sociable once monsters came out. So you remained huddled up in your own little space bubble-- which you enjoyed, personally.

“Plain black coffee,” Iridine called out shortly as you began to work. Doing the regular procedures of making the coffee; at this point, it was kind of second nature.

This continued on for a while, you acting mindlessly. Coffee brewing and whatnot was a nice way to keep your mind off of things. Today, the orders were all pretty basic; there weren’t many people coming in today. Oh well; the number of customers yesterday made up for today’s lack of customers.

You glanced briefly over to the clock-- one. Two. Three-

Aaaand your shift was over.

You didn’t stay to linger when someone came to switch with you, moving to go change and leave to proceed in your day. Same old, same old; your routine was predictable. Do your work. Go home. Do work at home. Sleep. Wake up. Repeat.

Honestly, sometimes, it kind of drove you crazy how boring your life was--- but those were only in the moments where you could actually pause to think about your life decisions and whatnot. Which you didn’t allow to happen often.

Your phone buzzed. Grabbing it, you glanced at the name of the caller; it was just a series of numbers. Who was this? Perhaps somebody calling you for some music? Probably. With a yawn, you moved to a quieter place and took the call.

“Hello,” you spoke quickly, allowing no time for the other to get a word in. “What is it that you need of me?”

“You’re that- uh, composer that came in yesterday, yeah?”

The voice was feminine, perky. Slight accent-- though you couldn’t quite place it. You spoke your confirmation; did this person see you leave yesterday? Perhaps that was a bit creepy. How’d they get your number? Wow, people nowadays were skilled in finding numbers.

“Great! Uh, you mind helping my friend out with some music?” the voice continued speaking. “This guy, my acquaintance? Friend? I guess he considers me a friend. Uh, he was going on the other day about how he wanted to use original music suited for his friend’s amazing dance and whatnot. For a routine or something. So, uh, I looked around and saw you. Drop a card thing.”

One of your business cards? Did you really-? if you did, you never realized, since you sighed quietly. Well, the question of how they got to contact you was answered. “So I suppose you want to commission me? What type of dance is it?”

“Oh, they do ballet, but they’re also hella skilled in, like, everything?” the voice sounded amused. There was a pause-- the voice sounded as if they were speaking to another person. The voice was.. rather loud. You could hear it through the phone.

“YES, FRISK DOES DO BALLET! IT IS WHAT THE YOUNG HUMAN IS DANCING FOR THEIR LITTLE SHOW!” the voice was masculine-ish. Very, very loud. Jeez. “THEY DESERVE THE BESTEST OF THE MUSIC IN THE HUMAN WORLD! THEY’RE GREAT! ALMOST AS GREAT AS ME!”

“Yes, okay, Pap,” the feminine voice snorted. “Okay, sorry ‘bout that.. Miss Anon..? Uh, so I dunno how this works. I guess just go over to the same studio tomorrow if you can, and uh- can you come right now?”

You paused, going over your schedule briefly. You didn’t have another job until later that night; you should be fine. You just couldn’t stay for too long. That was all. You didn’t bring any sunglasses, but you supposed just a surgical mask and the hood of your sweater would have to work.

“I can come over,” you confirmed. “Today. Are you in a practice room? What number?”  
“Practice room.. uh-”

“TWELVE.”

“Twelve,” the voice repeated. Okay then.

“Alright, I’m coming over soon.”

You ended the call soon after the voice said their goodbyes. Ballet, huh? Its been a while since you’ve done any music for a ballerina. You slipped your hood on after you put your mask on and you pulled your hair back so it wasn’t that visible.

Yes, you were probably way too cautious.

You got onto a bus, which you knew would pass by the studio. With a muffled yawn, you stretched briefly and sat down. You kept your gaze down, blinking when you saw someone standing in front of you. Glancing up, you saw--

A.. skeleton?

A skeleton monster. Huh. That was a first.

“that seat next to ya’ taken?”

“No,” you responded blankly, managing to stop observing his face and resumed staring at your shoes. The skeleton sat next to you. At least he didn’t attempt to make any small talk; you weren’t one for such things. You were definitely weirded out, though.

Not because you were sitting near a monster.

But because you could hear a faint tune-- something pulsed a little in your chest. It was a lazy tune, almost.. silly? Would that be a word you'd associate with it? Definitely. It was by no means a serious tune. You glanced to the side, expecting to see some phone out blasting music. But there weren’t any. The skeleton was merely glancing around-- and, of course, met your gaze.

You looked down.

“you look intimidated,” his deep voice spoke amusedly. The music seemed to get louder, just a little. “i don’t bite. don’t worry, i’m not lying-- i wouldn’t be able to.”

What? Why not?

“after all… you can  _see right through me_.”

Was that- a pun? Or were you over analyzing all this? You doubted it was the latter. Most likely the former; nobody ever says something weird like that. You resist the twitching temptation of a small smile-- but you end up failing. Hey, you weren't a frown-based person. You smiled at stupid things. A small smile was visible, though you killed it as you ignored him. You saw no point in interacting with him-- there weren't any laws strictly stating that you had to respond to people who told you horribly bad puns, right? Yeah.

"jeez, no laugh?" he retorted. Oh, was he going to continue--? "where's your  _funny bone_?"

That one wasn't as funny. You kept a neutral expression, staring down at the ground with your bag in your lap.

"wow, cold," he spoke-- but there weren't any hints of him being offended or irritated. "am i not  _humerus_  enough for ya'?"

You snickered.

Fuck.

Your hand flies up to your mouth as soon as that very minuscule snicker escaped-- a habit of yours, covering your mouth for most things. Eating, laughing, smiling widely. Well, that seemed to egg him on. Damn you and your horribly stupid sense of humour.

"oh, there it is. you gotta  _hand_  it to me, i'm a pretty funny skeleton," he hummed. The music seemed to get louder a little. Did nobody notice?

"Can you.. maybe turn down your music?" you eventually speak up, ignoring the jokes. He seemed duly confused by your question.

"sorry, kid. i don't really know... are you trying to give me  _treble_?"

Despite that joke, his tone seemed to be really, really on guard. What did you say wrong? You quickly shook your head, waving your hands around.

"Oh, jeez, no-! Uh, I guess I just meant..." you trailed off. What do you do? You don't usually interact with people outside of 'business'. How were people like, anyway, nowadays? "I was..  _bass_ -ically joking..?"

Your voice was apprehensive, unsure.

Until he seemed to relax a bit with a snort. Then a short-lived chuckle. "good one, kiddo. welp, i can't really say that music puns are my  _forte_."

Well, that was solved. You still didn't know how to react to any of this. You, for the first time, decided to actually observe the skeleton in the seat next to you. Blue hoodie. Black track pants. Untied, navy blue sneakers. He might've had fingerless gloves on, you couldn't tell-- he probably did. You got a glimpse of black covering what you assumed to be his right hand, though the phalanges were exposed. Or that could be some trick of the light. You soon realize he's staring at you, causing you to blink and smile awkwardly. Right, no staring. You should reply with a pun, right? He seemed to like puns.

"I see," you stated. No, you really didn't. But meh. "But I bet you have- a, uh,  _skeleton_  of bone-related jokes..?"

You cringed at your joke. How lame was that? Pretty lame, if one were to ask you. He didn't seem to mind, though-- god, when was the last time you punned this much? You hadn't uttered a pun in  _years_. The joking side of your personality seemed to dissipate with time-- alongside your childish behaviour.

"heh," he hummed in amusement. "nice to see someone's got a sense of humour. some people find 'em annoying, but i can't help it; i was  _bone_  this way, y'know?"

There was a bitter undertone to that statement, you could tell. If anyone could sense bitterness, it would most definitely be you.

You were far too well acquainted with such negative emotions.

The bus came to its sixth halt, the tired and scratchy voice speaking once more through the speakers, announcing their arrival. You got up, mumbling a goodbye and walking out briskly. Well, that was a strange encounter; at least you wouldn't have to see him again. Not that he was.. unpleasant. He was actually kind of nice; it was a good change in pace, punning with him. Even if you didn't show much reaction to it. Welp, that aside, it was time to get to that building; it was far enough that you had to walk for a few moments.

"oh, 'llo there," a familiar voice drawled lazily, causing your attention to snap abruptly to the voice that seemed to appear out of nowhere. A skeleton. The same one from the bus. Was he going the same way you were--? "looks like we're going the same way. you seem rather  _bus_ y, with how you left quickly and whatnot."

"Sorry," you muttered, averting your gaze to ahead of you. How did the skeleton manage to walk up on you without you noticing? The music that seemed to emit from him was being drowned out by the numerous chattering going on. Multiple people threw the two of you disgusted glares. Right. Monster prejudice. After two years of settling, people eventually got to learn where they stood. Some were happy-- some were being racist. Specist..?

You walked faster. You'd rather avoid any confrontations about you being a 'monster-fucker' or something idiotic like that. The skeleton didn't seem to follow you, though you definitely felt a stare that seemed to bore a hole into your skull. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but you disregarded it. Nothing new in this city, really. People were either incredibly kind or incredibly grouchy.

Or they were inside, like you would've been, not caring for much.

You huffed through your nostrils, proceeding on. It didn't take too long before the building was in your sight, the plain-appearing building having had not changed at all. What did you expect? It had only been a day since you last visited, really. Yesterday. You hadn't been expecting to have to go back so soon, but whatever.

_'Wait, what?'_

In front of the door stood the grinning, punning-skeleton in all his lazy glory. How in the world did he get there-? Was there an alternative route that he had taken? No, you knew most shortcuts. There weren't any ways that you could've gone to get to the building faster. Maybe he teleported? Magic  _was_  a thing, after all. You quietly walk past him, hoping to just leave him and stay in the confines of the practice room.

"Hello," you began quietly, glancing to the person at the front desk. "Practice room twelve. I'm visiting."

The lady hardly questioned it; she stopped asking for your purpose of visiting occupied practice rooms after the first couple of times. She nodded, letting you grab the key for it. You fidgeted with the key as you walked through the quiet halls, opening the door of the room.

Or you would've. If it weren't for the incredibly ominous presence  _right behind you_.

You turned around, feeling an immense sense of danger and you instinctively grabbed for your bag, intending to grab something out of your bag. You forgot you didn't have it in there-- you left it at home, usually. It was the skeleton. His smile seemed off. What was it now-?  _'Please don't tell me he's going to this room, too.'_

"what'cha planning once you go in there, pal?"

What was with the frequent changes in nicknames? Kid, kiddo, pal-- you were pretty sure you weren't classified as a kid. Or maybe you were in monster terms-- heck if you knew.

"They requested my presence there," you spoke up, narrowing your eyes at him. What was he up to, following you around?

"s'that so."

"Yes. Now, if you don't mind.."

You had to fight off the urge to attack him defensively when his eyesockets went pitch black.

"whatever you say, h u m a n."

You quickly turned around quietly. What's up with.. monsters and trying to scare people? Weren't monsters trying to get a good reputation? You unlocked the door, entering-- you were immediately greeted with a loud shout.

"WOWIE, ARE YOU THE ONE MY FRIEND ASKED FOR? THAT DIDN'T TAKE TOO LONG!"

You couldn't help but wince at the volume. You could handle several murmurs flitting around you, but this guy's incredibly loud voice? It was going to leave you with ringing ears for a while. Ringing ears were never, ever pleasant for you. You had sensitive ears, so naturally, you had to ask. Politely.

"Can you please speak in a quieter volume?" you inquired carefully. You watched his.. skeletal face for any signs of offence. His face was really animated-- it was weird, to say in the least. "I have rather sensitive hearing, so I would appreciate it."

"OH! RIGHT, O- of course, human! The great Papyrus is very sorry for speaking too loudly!" the skeleton spoke. If he was miffed at all, there were no signs. You nodded quietly, turning to close the door and stepped further into the room to inspect it.

There were a  _ton_  of monsters in the room, now that you looked around carefully. The practice rooms were spacious, enough to fit the monsters comfortably. Let's see; who was there?

A blue fish monster with an eyepatch and red hair tied back. She seemed to be wearing a black tank top and white sweatpants-- dancing clothes, definitely. Unless she wore that everywhere.

A considerably shorter yellow.. lizard monster wearing a white lab coat and a red armband stood next to the tall fish woman. Fish lady. This lizard monster also had little round glasses perched on her face.

A tall goat lady. Monsters seemed to have abnormal heights, seriously-- they were either really short or really tall. This goat monster was wearing a formal ball gown-- an outfit suited for waltzing, you immediately notice. She seemed to be looking at you with well-hidden caution. A small child held her paw, the child wearing ballet-clothes. Striped top, pink tutu. They were wearing pointe shoes with a lot of ribbon wrapping around their leg-- huh, so they were already using pointe shoes at their age? They looked around ten, maybe eleven.

There was also the two skeletons of the room. The skeleton from the bus and the taller skeleton. Shorter than Undyne a little. He wore a white Latin-dance shirt, a red scarf tied around his waist, with a rose in his breast pocket. He wore brown pressed pants along with tap dancing shoes. Latin dancing, for sure. He called himself Papyrus, didn't he?

"Right, yes, so I suppose the music is for the child over there?" you asked, glancing over to the ballerina-like person of the room. She smiled widely, nodding enthusiastically as she bounded on over. She was rather graceful and nimble. She embraced you in a hug, causing you to stumble back. Woah, wait, what-?

"Frisk!" the goat-woman exclaimed, bounding over, dress rustling about as she moved. "I have told you, my child, do not go around hugging strangers.. ah, I apologize."

"It's.. fine," you mutter, gently prying her hands away from you. She glanced at Toriel, pouting, before looking at you and winking.

Was.. she flirting? With you?

Jesus christ, kid.

"Right," you cleared your throat. "Uh.. are.. you all deciding? Together? Or?"

The fish stared you down from across the room. You tried to not be unnerved with the way she was staring at you. Aggressively..? She bounded over to you with large strides and.. then performed a kick at you-- wqioefs frgyh2e

WAAAIT-!

You duck reflexively, reaching for her ankle. However, she freaking  _flipped_  over to the door and attempted to kick you before you rolled forward and turned around quickly to face her, wary.

"Uh, wait, wh-"

"GOOD!" the fish woman bellowed, grinning widely and showing off her piranha-like teeth. "I like this girlie!"

"U-U-Undyne!" the lizard monster exclaimed, clearly horrified. "Y-You can't go a-a-attacking people j-just.. just like t-that!"

"I was dancing," the one called 'Undyne' retorted.

"B-But still," the lizard muttered.

Oh, dancing? That was dancing-? Hm. You'd have to look into that, you'd never seen any dances that were like fighting. But still, why did she go and attempt to attack you? People were weird. Or monsters- gah, whatever.

"heh, i'm sure it's okay," the hoodie-clad skeleton retorted. He seemed to.. well, he wasn't extremely passive towards you, though it was well hidden. You had to do a double take and observe his gaze at you to completely determine it. What did you do wrong? "she dodged it after all. where'd you learn to dodge like that?"

"Somewhere," you answered dismissively with a flick of your hand as you turned to face the group of monsters. You watched from the corner of your eye as Undyne went back to the group. "Anyway, back to the topic at hand? I'd like to sort this out and get started."

"Oh, oh!" Papyrus exclaimed, voice at a quiet volume, though still louder than most voices. "Something passionate!"

"Punk, you better give Frisk here something with an aggressive beat!" Undyne spoke.

"Something elegant, perhaps," the goat lady hummed.

"D-Do you think y-you can i-incorporate something l-like J-Pop?" the lizard asked quietly, mainly drowned out by the other voices.

'Something pretty!' you caught Frisk signing excitedly.

It was all at once.

"Which.. is it? Is this for one person?" you asked, blinking as you tried to comprehend all the suggestions. Passionate, aggressive, elegant, pop and.. and pretty--? The short skeleton didn't say anything, only watching the group with amusement. "Uh."

You felt a tug on your coat, causing you to glance down to Frisk. 'Maybe incorporate all of it in?'

Oh, wow. This was a first.

"Oh," you echoed your thoughts. "This is a first."

"Ah, can you not do that?" the goat person worried. You should nickname the unnamed people.

"I can," you confirmed. "It's.. it can be like putting a medley together, I guess..? I'm going to have to need your help figuring this out.."

Usually, you could deal with this alone, but wow if you weren't overwhelmed. That was a lot of different genres-- you were already trying to figure out something to sum all of that up. What did pretty mean? You glanced over to the short skeleton.

"Uh, I don't suppose you have a genre you want to throw in?"

"nah, i  _genre_ lly go with the flow of things."

Your lips twisted in a strange way, trying to not smile but smile at the same time.

"Okay..?"

"BROTHER!" Papyrus groaned loudly, but you swear you caught a very, very subtle hint of amusement. Or was that just you? "Do not pun! We've gone over this!"

"sorry paps."

"W-We c-could m-meet up o-on l-later dates, i-i-if that's.. okay..?" the yellow monster asked apprehensively, hesitantly. You wrinkled your nose at that thought; you'd probably have to talk to them a lot, you weren't used to trying to compose a song with five different themes. People only ever requested one-- and Frisk, the one you were apparently composing for, didn't seem to argue against the others, so you had to assume they were okay with whatever they were saying.

When did life get so hard all of a sudden?

Augh, you were terrible with surprises and unexpected things. Things like these.

"Yes, I suppose that can work," you spoke, though not missing the frown on the monsters' faces. What now-? Were you offending all these monsters somehow?

"if ya' don't like being around us, you don't have to," the short skeleton stated casually. You furrowed your eyebrows; what was he referring to?

Oh, right. You wrinkled your nose and seemed closed off? They took it the wrong way, didn't they?

"Oh! No, no, it's fine," you quickly say, glancing around to find mixed expressions. "I'm merely.. unused to such a request?"

"Oh!" exclaimed the one dressed in a gown, blinking. "If that's the case, child, do not worry. I can help you accustom yourself to all of this."

"Uh, how?" you inquire, blinking. Didn't adjusting take time?

"Familiarize yourself with the monster species!" she exclaimed softly, clapping her paws.

You took a step back.

Did she mean the whole population, or just the group?

"Oh, I won't introduce you to everyone.."

"I'm just a composer," you point out. "It's fine."

"OH, HUMAN!" Papyrus spoke, though quickly readjusted his voice. "You don't want to become friends with monsters?"

_'No.'_

"Oh, yes, I.. I do..?"

Okay, in your defence, the face the guy was making was hard to resist. And you weren't normally swayed by puppy eyes.

"Wonderful! I am the great and undoubtedly cool Papyrus!" he grinned, picking you up easily and lifting you. You let out an unprofessional squeak-- should you be worrying about professionalism? "What is your name, musical human?"

"(Y/n).. it was on the business card-?" you managed, quickly tapping his shoulder. "Mind, uh, letting me down? I don't like being held. This is uncomfortable for me."

Maybe you were too blunt? You were usually told that.

"Oh! I am sorry Miss (Y/n)!"

"It's fine," you breathe out, stumbling back when you were let down.

"Name's Undyne! Remember it!"

"A-Alphys.."

"I'm Toriel," the furred monster smiled warmly at you, seeming to have relaxed.

Toriel. Where have you heard that name?

_"The monsters have a queen and a king, Toriel and Asgore..."_

Oh. Oh! You freeze on the spot. So you had been talking to the queen of monsterkind and-- crap, wasn't there an etiquette for royalty? That you were supposed to follow?

"It's fine," she reassured, seeming to have read your expression. "You needn't consider me 'Queen Toriel', but rather just Toriel."

"Alright, your maa.. Toriel."

"Sans!" Papyrus huffed, glancing to his brother. "Introduce yourself to the human!"

You glanced over, flinching ever so slightly when he seemed to appear right next to you. He held his hand out.

"sans," he spoke. A mischievous smile was on his face-- why? "sans the skeleton."

"Right," you muttered, reaching to grasp his hands. "(Y/n)--"

_Pbbbttt....._

You froze.

He did  _not_.

You look at him, eyes widening a little as you released his hold.

"heh. works like a charm," he winked.

Collective groaning, some giggles.

"Oh. Um, alright."

How were you supposed to react? You really hadn't been expecting it. Then again, maybe you should have been.

"Right, so first off," you start, deciding to just ignore the entire thing. "Is this for.. a competition..? Or maybe a recital?"

"A public performance!" Undyne seemed to cheer, grinning widely. "We're gonna show all of you weak humans that WE. CAN. DANCE!!!!!"

Excessive exclamation marks-- that's what would've been at the end, for sure. You could feel it.

"Oh. Okay?"

"Frisk wants to express our differences yet how we are also similar," Toriel adds in helpfully.

"Right," you state, taking mental notes. Okaay, so basically, you were supposed to make a song for all to hear expressing both.. differences and similarities? At the same time? Maybe? "Well--"

You pause, glancing down to your phone. Your boss at one of your jobs had texted you-- one of the bosses you were closer with.

 **Priscilla**  
> heeeeey  
> (n/n) my best employer

 **(Y/n)**  
> what is it  
> is there an emergency

 **Priscilla**  
> noo  
> nothing too bad  
> we're busy and we're hella short handed.

You snorted at how casual your texts were. Priscilla certainly was a strange human being. You glance up, finding yourself uncomfortable with the several gazes on you. You cleared your throat awkwardly and speak out apologetically.

"Sorry, my boss is calling me in early.. perhaps we can discuss this another time?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Toriel hummed in understanding. She was.. motherly, almost. "I will text you. What is your number?"

You hesitate for the shortest of seconds before showing her your number as she typed it in. You began leaving for the door. "Okay, text me later, thank you. Again, sorry for the sudden need to leave."

You left before hearing an answer. With a huff, you got onto the bus.

 **(Y/n)**  
> coming.  
> will take a few minutes to get there  
> sorry

 **Priscilla**  
> it's fineeeee  
> hope i didn't interrupt anything !!

You text without a thought, mainly glancing around the bus.

 **(Y/n)**  
> it's okay,  
> you didn't interrupt anything, wasn't doing anything important.

You reread your message. Okay, maybe that was mean-- but technically, what you were doing wasn't a pressing matter. But you felt guilty? For some reason?

Sheesh, whatever happened to your predictable life?

You got off the bus soon enough, beginning to walk over to a dainty little restaurant-- filled to the brim. With people. Oh goodie.

"(Y/n)!" Priscilla hummed, waving at you when she saw you. "Thaanks, you're such a life saver!"

"It's fine," you inform her, going to change quickly.

"Wait, (Y/n)?" Priscilla spoke, causing you to look up and blink. "Uh, we're good with cooks. We.. need you to serve. People."

What?

"Ahaha," you laugh awkwardly, standing there as you stared at your boss. "You.. I'm not up for being a waitress."

"Please?" she begged. "We're really low-- ah, hold on a moment, sir! Coming! Right, please just change? I'll pay extra."

"Fine," you managed with a sigh. She was your boss. You had to obey-- that's kind of how you saw it.

 _'And also pretty close to a good friend whom you owe,'_  a voice reminded you within your head.

"Mmhm!"

You went off to look for a spare outfit, picking it up and glaring at it. You.. didn't dislike the outfit. It was just that you disliked wearing it. It showed too much skin, you decided. You took off your mask and pulled your hood down, going to a bathroom in the back.

It wasn't exactly a maid outfit-- despite what Priscilla initially wanted-- but rather a professional-yet casual kind of look. If that made sense. It had a loose skirt which you didn't appreciate wearing too much. It made you feel a bit too exposed, showing skin.

"She better know that I'll probably annoy people out of her restaurant," you mutter.

You immediately put on a 'friendly' smile as you strolled about, beginning to take orders.

"Right, I have that down, sir."

It was the same for an hour, before things got worse.

You bounded off to a table calling for you.

"What would you like--"

"You," one of the men interrupted with a wink.

You cringed. How cliché. Hitting on a waitress? Disgusting, you didn't enjoy this.

"I am not on the menu, sir."

"Can't you make an exception?"

"No, I do not make this restaurant's menu. I merely work here."

"Then," he grinned, sizing you up. You didn't dare show a hint of discomfort, remaining steeled. "What if I have you outside of this restaurant?"

"To be quite frank with you sir," you deadpanned. "That is very disgusting and I'm not one for one-night stands. I prefer intelligent men who aren't as obviously desperate like you. I do not enjoy being treated as if I am on display and ready to be fucked into a wall."

He seemed to be taken aback by your wording. The people at the table laughed loudly at this.

"What-" he quickly composed himself. He was angry, that was clear.

"It seems I am being called over. Any of you other two want anything?" you asked, receiving amused shakes. You leave quickly-- though it was only to the table next to the previous table. You could feel the gaze on you, damnit.

"Hello, welcome to C's Diner, how may I assist you?"

It was two monsters, quite clearly on what you would assume to be a date. They were two dog monsters-- they seemed to be quite affectionate.

"I'd like meal number fifteen, fettuccine alfredo with chicken."

"Same here," chirped the female dog.

You could hear a swear from the other table when you began to walk away.

"Disgusting monsters, making me lose my appetite," the guy you had... spoken with earlier scoffed. "They should go die."

"Right? Shouldn't do shit like that in public, honestly," the other guy shrugged. The other didn't do anything except drink his water and nod.

"Hey!" dumbass number one (because what else was he?) called out. To the dog couple. "You two don't belong here! Go fuck somewhere else, preferably in the trash!"

"Oh!" the male dog seemed to be angry, though kept it under wraps. "We're just eating here, isn't that right, sweetie-pie?"

"Yes," chimed the female dog. "There is not a problem here, is there?"

"Yes there is," the second guy scoffed. "Your ugly mugs are making us want to throw up. Get out."

"Well--" the male dog began.

"You should go get dusted. Heard that's how you monsters die," dumbass number three finally spoke up. "Y'all don't sound like you have the right to live. Fucking turning into dust- ha! How funny."

You returned just in time to hear that, plates of noodles in your hand. Oh, they were still at it. Maybe you should stop it--

There was a splash sound as you watched the man stand up and 'accidentally' dump his soda onto the dogs. He snorted, "You two look like shit, it suits you two perfectly."

Okay.

You set the spaghetti down onto the dogs' table, making way to the guy.

"What are you doing?"

"Treating them how they should be trea-"

"That was a rhetorical question, you imbecile," you state. Monsters or not, you weren't tolerating this shit. You hated prejudice that was so clearly displayed. "Please leave."

"Oh? And what will you do if we don't?"

"Make you."

He snorted, leaning back. The second one did the same.

"Ha! This chick thinks she's all the-"

You had effectively picked up all of their drinks, dumping the remains onto him.

"There," you stated, a smile on your face. "Now you look perfect. Now leave."

"What the fu- you bit-"

You managed to block most of the soup when he tossed most of its contents towards you. But it was hot. You winced, feeling the burn.

"Okay, what is happening here?" Priscilla seemed to growl, approaching with an irritated air.

"She was mistreating--"

"Not from what I saw," Priscilla interrupted the third man, glaring at the group. "Out of my restaurant, or else I will have to file charges against you."

You had left by then, going to the back. You knew Priscilla could handle them, undoubtedly. You huffed, looking at the reddish mark on your arms. Your arms ended up taking the brunt of it. And it was a perfectly good soup, too.

"I'm so sorry, (Y/n)--"

Priscilla had entered, though you cut her off quickly.

"It's not your fault the guy thought he was king or something."

"I was the one who made you go out as a waitress," she spoke, seeming similar to a scolded child.

"I was the one who didn't disagree," you shot back, shrugging."I can continue. I just need to chan--"

"Goodness, no!" Priscilla huffed. "Go home early, today. You deserve it. Besides, its calmed down to the point where it's easier to manage. You do wonders here, thank you for that."

"But-"

"This is an order," Priscilla declared. "Go home early."

You stared at her.

She stared back.

"..Fine."

"Off with you," Priscilla called out, leaving quickly. "Go get some sleep early, yeah?"

"Right."

You changed, though didn't put on your regular attire before cleaning yourself up. You didn't want to feel mainly sticky and dirty while going home-- there was a restroom with a sink, so you might as well use it. You glance at the burn, wincing. It wasn't permanent, that was clear. At least you had that running for you.

You made it, like, ten steps out before you were stopped.

"Oh, there you are!" a female voice chirped.

The two dogs.

You turned around, glancing to the bright red envelope immediately.

"Thank you so much," the male smiled. "I'm Dogamy; Dogaressa and I really appreciate what you did."

The two look somewhat cleaned up-- probably visited the restroom.

"He was being an asshole. What was I supposed to do?"

Dogaressa laughed amusedly, "Well, yes, but nobody else was doing anything, were they?"

"He also annoyed me," you shrugged.

"But you still helped."

"I guess," you state, head cocking to the side. What was this all about?

"I know he must've burned you. Have some monster candy; it'll help you heal," Dogaressa spoke, offering you some, which you took and put in your bag.

"Also, take this invitation," Dogamy added, giving you the red letter. "We can't attend this year, but I'm sure you can in our stead."

"Oh, I can't--"

"We insist," they spoke in harmony.

You cringed internally. Nooo, this wasn't how you wanted things to go when you had that little scene. You just wanted to get rid of that annoying guy.

"S..ure."

They retreated back into the restaurant quickly and for a moment, you consider going in to give their letter back. You really didn't want to go to whatever party this was. It was a party, right? You hadn't gone to one since juniour high, seriously.

...

But you ended up keeping it anyway and taking it home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i'm tired
> 
>  
> 
> also, i realize how people dancing ballet apparently have different outfits for their gender so.. frisk is now a female, sorry bout that
> 
>  
> 
> i stayed up because i saw one comment and i really wanted to finish this haha oops
> 
>  
> 
> i get motivated by the smallest things. but thank you very much to that commenter! made me happy ^v^  
> ('kay i'mma sleep now)


	3. Parties and Music, Doesn't That Sound Fun?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> where you end up hearing way too much and you make the decision of attending a party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so can we pretend that this is all professional knowledge when i mention burns and whatnot
> 
> >coming from someone who has never gotten burned before
> 
> okay, read on and enjoy-

**unknown number**  
> Hello, (Y/n)?  
> This is Toriel from yesterday,  
> I apologize for not being able to contact you sooner

You hissed into your pillow at the buzzing of your phone. NoooO- just a few more hours of sleep, please. Today was a day without any work, today was rare enough. After a whole five minutes of not replying, you give in to your inner sense of duty and pick up the phone on your nightstand and read the messages.

Toriel.

Right, the goat person from the dance studio. Oh, shoot; you just now realize you hadn't taken their request into consideration _at all_ yet. You didn't give yourself much time to. Damnit.

 **(Y/n)**  
> Right.  
> It's fine. I was a bit occupied yesterday, so it's fine.  
> Do you need to meet up?

You got up from your bed, looking around your room. After looking at your phone-- and seeing the lack of response-- you got up to actually shower. You really didn't shower as much as you should've, but whatever. Ha; 'whatever' seemed to be your inner response for just about everything but music.

Man, you were a very, very sad person, weren't you?

You stripped, observing the burn marks. Of course it wouldn't leave immediately. It was a first degree burn; nothing too bad, thankfully. It'd heal in.. what? Four, six days perhaps. You got into the shower, wincing once the water hit your burn-- okay, maybe you should've treated it better. You already cooled it and whatnot yesterday-- maybe you had to do it daily..?

You were a musician, not a doctor.

Your shower was short-lived, as you soon left. You didn't let yourself enjoy the luxuries of a shower too often; you'd rather go and do something productive. Speaking of productiveness--

\--the music.

How were you going to deal with it? You already accepted it. You assumed a medley-like thing was what they wanted, right? So then maybe they weren't only incorporating ballet..? That made the most sense to you.

You stepped out with a towel wrapped around your body snugly. You tossed on whatever seemed comfortable and okay if you had to go out immediately-- a t-shirt and a hoodie coloured (f/c) along with some black leggings. Comfy and also okay for public presentation. You went back in shortly, to brush your teeth and whatnot.

You checked your phone once finished.

 **Toriel**  
> Oh, no! That isn't that case.  
> I merely wanted to check if you were doing okay  
> I was informed that you got attacked at a restaurant?

What? How did she know-- then again, she was queen. Maybe she had her resources-? That made the most sense to you.

 **(Y/n)**  
> I'm fine. It wasn't anything too bad.  
> Just a burn.

You glanced at the name. How plain. Should you change it? You hardly ever gave nicknames when it came to anyone.

 **Toriel**  
> Well, if it ever bothers you, child  
> You can always consult me.  
> I know quite a bit on human healing!

 **(Y/n)**  
> I'll keep that in mind.  
> Thanks.

You turn your phone off, heading to the main living room of your apartment. You surveyed the room, gaze lingering on the red envelope and wrapped candies. Monster candy and the invitation from yesterday.

You still hadn't looked at either, really. Maybe you should? You heard that monster food was.. magical.

You snorted at that thought. Magical food. But then again, you dabbled in a little of.. mixing of strange things.

You shrug inwardly to yourself as you plopped down and unwrapped one candy, inspecting it. It had a white wrapper with a coloured circle inside-- this one had.. a picture of some jelly-like monster. It was red.

So was the candy inside. Strawberry? Cherry? You popped it into your mouth after staring your candy down a bit more, because, well-- who _doesn't_ stare candy down right before consumption?

Any normal human being, probably.

The candy was sweet and seemed to melt almost immediately in your mouth-- you couldn't say that it was unpleasant. Quite the contrary. The taste was really nice and mild; it wasn't too strong. You couldn't tell what flavour it was supposed to be, but you swore you tasted some sort of fruity tang. You noticed that some of the mild pain was alleviated on your arms. That was nice.

Why did monsters get all the cool things?

Oh, but then again, you supposed humans were assholes. And monsters didn't seem to be.

You pull out your laptop; you should probably read up on burns. You really never got injured, so you had little to no experience with these things. Darn you and your sheltered self.

 _'So,'_ you read over whatever the website had on information. _'Get cream.. or something?'_

You huffed quietly. That'd require going outside. You probably didn't have any burn cream on you at the moment, unfortunately. You put your laptop aside, eyeing the envelope next.

Well, it was offered to you, so it wouldn't hurt if you read it, right?

You picked it up, inspecting it between your fingers. Seemed plain enough. It hadn't been opened yet; did they reseal it? Or maybe they already knew what it was about.

_**Dear receiver,** _

_**This is an invitation to our yearly dance party for the freedom of monsterkind, July 20th at the address listed below. Feel free to invite others as you see fit!** _

The end had a smiley face along with an address and time. A smiley face? Who put that there? How strange.

You narrowed your eyes at the address. This.. was unfamiliar to you. An unfamiliar address. Aaah. Do you go or not? You might see Toriel there along with the little ambassador, so you could discuss stuff there. Would they want to? It's a party. And you could always meet later.

Ah, choices.

You leave the envelope on the coffee table and slip your sneakers on though not after putting on some socks. You yawn briefly, glancing around your apartment once more. You eyed a blanket-laden shelf. You approached it, lifting it up. Different flasks of different sizes were visible-- Nah, let's not. There wasn't much left to do here. So you went and left the apartment.

The streets were busier once you got closer to the more populated area of Ebott City. The place always seemed to be bustling with people one way or another. People were everywhere, unfortunately for you.

You glance around. A pharmacy would have burn cream, right? You pull out a candy and unwrap it, popping it into your mouth and then stuffed the wrapper in your pocket. Sheesh, the candy was addicting. It was amazing; normally, you were strict when it came to sweets but the monster candy was amazing.

You enter the first drugstore you see, scanning the aisle signs as you entered. What would burn cream be classified as? You supposed you could wander around. It wasn’t going to kill anyone.

“(Y/n)?”

You turn slowly. Feminine, meek voice. Sounded familiar— ah, Alphys. The lizard person.

“Alphys,” you spoke, nodding in acknowledgement. “Hello.”

You wandered off after that, not wanting to linger. Not because you felt uncomfortable-- you wasn't sure if the stuttery lizard wanted to talk. She seemed to be anxious around.. just about everything. Humans were probably especially bad, since she probably had met bad humans before.

_'Burn creaaam. Where are youuu-'_

_'Aha!'_

After wandering around for a while, you stumbled across what was labelled as 'first degree burn cream'. You checked the expiration date-- something your mother always did-- and checked the exterior box. It was still closed. Maybe you were being way too paranoid about public shopping like your mother had been-- eh. You were sure it was fine.

You took longer than you should've.

You absently handed the cashier the wad of cash you brought, taking the burn cream without a bag and started towards the door. Right, what to do after treating your burn-- probably just lounge around in your bedroom all day, working on the request... wait, they didn't request any specific or general times.

Augh.

You instinctively looked behind you when you heard the sound of several items clattering to the ground, blinking. The woman at the cash register appeared irritated and Alphys just looked completely miserable and startled.

It didn't take much to figure out what exactly had happened. You assumed that humans were being dicks to monsters. Again.

You were very close to just storming out with a loud 'NOPE!'. But your mind thought differently.

 _'That's not justified!'_ a voice cried within you. The one you named 'Justice', since it was pretty much what made you do things in the name of justice. You hated that voice. It convinced you every single freaking time. _'Alphys didn't do anything wrong to deserve that, it's like that dog couple! Aren't you going to step in? Or just run away? I know you're not that bad!'_

 _'That wasn't very nice,'_ another voice rang out. This one was the one trying to make you do the kind things. Give people money when they begged you, help strangers out, work some more-- you kind of denied this voice a bit. _'Poor Alphys... she should be shown kindness..! Wouldn't you agree?'_

 _'Shut up,'_ you groaned inwardly, hand slowly reaching up to your face as it dragged down your cheek.

Yes, you were arguing with yourself. You were a rather crazy fellow, weren't you?

You swore, it was almost as if you had split personalities. You internally snorted at that-- you were pretty crazy in the head. This had happened yesterday, too, at the restaurant-- though you were way too annoyed by the guy's treatment to everyone to be bothered with the dumb voices.

 _'You're becoming no better than_ them _,'_ the two voices seemed to chorus.

You shudder at the thought.

_'Fine, whatever. I'll go help Alphys..'_

Who needed friends when you had some random voices in your head? Yeah, mhm.

That aside, you strolled on over to the scene.

"Excuse me, but could you not? I believe you're causing a disturbance and an unnecessary scene," you spoke as politely and respectfully you can. With irritation seeping through.

"What-" the cashier sputtered. Apparently she didn't expect anyone to walk in and interrupt. "She was the one who started it!"

You had to cringe at the horrible excuse as you watched the woman point to Alphys. Alphys attempted to speak up.

"What's it to you, anyway, huh?" she huffed, glaring.

"It's bothersome when you humans do things like these," you point out calmly. "Besides, there is a line forming, no?"

"Well, this monster should've stayed in hell, where it came from!"

How annoying.

"I believe they came from beneath a mountain, not hell?" you correct. "Though, I suppose I would guess you don't know the difference given how intelligent you are."

She blinked at you, clearly furious.

"Yeah, well, you've clearly hit your head if you're defending _that thing_."

 _"Guys, look! Look!_ That thing _looks so stupid, cowering like that. Ha, isn't it that witch's child?" a voice snorted. The voice of a twelve-year-old boy. You whimpered, curling up into a ball. It hurt. Hurt, hurt, hurt; you could feel tears pricking the corner of your eyes. What did you ever do?_

_"S-Stop, please.." you mumbled meekly, trying to shuffle away as far as you could. Not that you got far, given the wall they cornered you against. There was another kick followed by a series of laughter. Harsh, cruel, uncaring._

_"Are you trying to order us around? You're not even human, you're a_ monster _. Stop trying to look like the victim! You're a curse to this world! Go **die.** "_

Die.

_Die._

_**Die.** _

#### Die.

 

 

"She is not a _thing_ ," you spat. Your patience was wearing thin. "She is very much alive and sentient, thank you."

"Well, she isn't welcome here. She's not allowed to buy anything from here."

You didn't even want to hear whatever stupid excuse.

"Well, I'm buying it all."

You speak with an a challenging air, picking up the products from the ground. It was all varying in medicines; creams to pills to liquids. What did Alphys need all this for?

"What-"

"W-Wait-"

"I'm buying this," you state, plopping it all down onto the conveyor. "Is there a problem?"

"Y-Y-You really d-don't need to d-do this-! I-It's okay, I-I'll go somewhere.. else.." Alphys fumbled with her words, appearing surprised. The cashier seemed surprised as well.

You stare the cashier down, gaze unfaltering. You were _not_ letting a human like this get their way. This was just way too petty. She stared back, though less confident.

Eventually you appeared to win the staring contest.

"Fine," she growled, though looking away as she ran the items through the scanner and plopped it down into a bag. "You're just another stupid monster-lover."

You roll your eyes. This was way too childish. You pay via card, ignoring Alphys's protests. You pull the bag away from the cashier's grip and grabbed Alphys's paw and led her out promptly.

"Do you think you're doing something good by playing hero?" the cashier's voice scoffed, speaking loud enough for you to hear. You made your way out of the pharmacy and

You turn, holding the bag out. You would've spoken-- if it weren't for your words getting stuck in your throat. You could hear a tune playing, loud enough for you to hear. You watch the people from the corner of your eye, some people looking at you strangely.

Oh, okay. Was this related to the thing that happened yesterday with Sans on the bus?

But wouldn't you have heard it before? And this wasn't the first time you met Alphys-- jesus christ, was this going to happen everytime you did something nice for a monster? But nothing happened with the dog couple regarding music. So then why? Too many questions. Way too many.

It sounded like techno-pop. It was catchy, you weren't going to lie; you hardly registered your foot tapping to the beat of it. Alphys seemed to be looking at you warily.

"(Y/n)? U-Um, you are (Y/n), r-right? Your eyes look f-familiar.. a-are you.. okay..? I-I'm s-so sorry! I-I really d-didn't mean for you t-to get caught up.. in- i-in that!" Alphys fretted, taking the bag. "L-Let me r-repay you at least..!"

You quickly returned from your thoughts, nodding hesitantly. Oh, did Alphys call you by your name? AaAAAAAH. So much for 'hiding' your identity. Then again, you supposed surgical masks never provided much anonymity. Toriel could learn your face by just asking the two dogs you helped. Keeping a hidden face was suddenly a lot more difficult.

"No! No repayment is in order," you managed, ignoring her question about your identity. "It's fine. She didn't attack me. Uh, okay bye-I-think-my-apartment-is-calling-me-and-I-want-to-go-now, bye!"

You ran into the crowds, being the person amazing at communicating. Running away after somebody thanked you. Perfect, foolproof plan. for being anti social.

 _'Jesus christ, (Y/n),'_ you huffed internally. _'It was just her saying thank you._

You slowed down to a brisk walk after a while. You were sure she wouldn't really follow you.

~ 0 ~

 **Toriel**  
> Child?  
> Thank you very much for helping Alphys out earlier. That was you, right?  
> We both appreciate it very much.

You were working on their request when Toriel had texted you. You didn't get much down in the few hours you've been sitting there; for some reason, you couldn't get anything down for once. Only the two melodies you heard around Sans and Alphys-- they didn't match exactly (completely matching copies were in another file, you couldn't help but make it into sheet music, okay?) as they were changed to match each other better. How long did Toriel want the song to be, anyway?

You hesitate before confirming who you were.

 **(Y/n)**  
> It was.  
> I didn't do too much.

You snorted. That sounded awfully humble, even for you. You really just didn't want to deal with gratitude.

 **Toriel**  
> How may I repay you?  
> I wouldn't want your actions to go unrewarded. You did pay for the medicine, after all...

 **(Y/n)**  
> I insist. It's okay.  
>I really am fine with knowing that I did something kind for somebody.

Your gaze flicked to the softly lit screen of your laptop before back to your phone.

 **Toriel**  
> Do you perhaps want to attend a little meet up later?  
> I could help you be acquainted with monsterkind..  
> I'm sure you'd enjoy the time there.

Oh god, parties. Noo, no, no. Was she talking about the one in the envelope?

 **(Y/n)**  
> NO  
> I mean, no thank you. I'm not much for partying..

 **Toriel**  
> Is this because you are uncomfortable around large groups of monsters?

The text seemed apprehensive. Unsure. You winced at the message.

 **(Y/n)**  
> no  
> It's not that. I just  
> i feel uncomfortable around crowds

You stared blankly at your text message. It could've come off as an excuse.

God, when did you feel guilty for turning down party invitations?

Never. At least, not until now.

 **Toriel**  
> I'm terribly sorry  
> I didn't intend to try to force you to go to something you're uncomfortable with  
> Forgive me

Ouch. That made you feel really bad. What was with monsters and their way of.. making you feel compliant? You swear they were working magic on you.

 **(Y/n)**  
> No, it's okay  
> I'm being silly  
> I can come, it's okay

You hated monsters.

 _'You know you like them more than humans already,'_ a voice chimed.

And you also hated how right that voice was.

 **Toriel**  
> Oh!  
> Are you sure?  
> I didn't want to pressure you into coming  
> You don't need to, it's okay, I insist

 **(Y/n)**  
> No, really.  
> I really should overcome such feelings, since I do live in a crowded city.  
> I'm coming.  
> I need to go, so goodbye.

After a while, you sent one last message.

 **(Y/n)**  
> Have a nice day.

You ignored the message you got in return, turning to your laptop and flicking to the small digits in the corner of your screen. Ah, Toriel probably sent the time and location. You didn't really need it-- the envelope had that information inside of it. You had a decent amount of time until you should start leaving. Right, where to go.

"Wasn't it an area where most monsters settled, aside from the ones living here?" you mutter, taking the envelope to reconfirm the location.

Oh, wow it was far. Maybe you misjudged the distance.

Okay, you really misjudged the distance.

Aaah, you could deal with that.

Where did you leave the bottle?

You wandered over to the shelf with the blanket and pulled the blanket off carefully, setting it down. You spotted a completely black liquid, pulling out a test tube and you began to pour in the liquid. You didn't use this that often-- it took a lot of magic out of your body. You put it back, covering the shelf with the blanket.

_'All this for a party.'_

You scoffed at yourself for that thought.

Okay, maybe you also wanted to use it because it was _funwas_ a hot season in Ebott. And you decided to smartly run around in a hoodie. It was usually cooler during the night. You grabbed your bag and stuffed whatever you needed into the bag, including the invitation just in case. Was this attire okay? It was just a 'meet-up' apparently. Given how monsters loved dancing, you assumed you didn't need to wear anything hard to move in.

Time to go... 'partying'. God, this was all really weird to you.

But strangely, you found that you weren't completely opposed to all of this. Wait; when were you so willing to go places for any living being?

Sheesh, monsters really changed you quickly.

You downed a tasteless fluid, feeling the area around you attempt to crush you into a little piece.

But you left as quickly as you entered. The tube clattered to the ground as you stumbled, a little gleeful smile on your face.

Why in the fucking hell did you find that so exhilarating? You were exhausted.

You supposed it was also because of your mother's influence. Y'know what-- you could probably just blame most weird antics of yours on your mother. She was a strange nut, different from most. You loved her, she was amazing. She didn't deserve what she got.

But the nicest people seemed to die the quickest.

You waited a moment before popping the last monster candy into your mouth, picking up the tube and shoving it into your bag and made your way out of the alleyway you had appeared in. The monster candy seemed to ease your tiredness a bit; monsters did wonders.

You looked around, quickly hurrying along the sidewalk. You rarely visited this part of town. When was the last time- oh right. When your mother was first introducing you to the whole transportation formula.

If only she could see how far you got.

You stretch briefly as you walk for a few more minutes. Ten? Maybe more, less? Who knows.

You hum, glancing at what seemed to be a rather large.. club? Oh god. No, maybe you got the address wrong--

\--nope.

Of course not.

You huffed. Clubs were generally very cramped. Maybe this one would be.. less crowded? It looked to be a two-story building.

Okay, well, you're already here. Might as well suck it up and go in. It couldn't be _that_ bad, could it?

You were stopped by what you assumed to be a bouncer. A large, muscular monster. They were.. very intimidating. It was a bear monster-- a humanoid bear monster. It seemed to glare you down, paw outstretched with the palm up. What did it-

Oh.

You took the envelope out and set it in his paws. You did your best not to be tense with how the bear looked at you. He didn't need to open it before letting you in. Huh. Was that safe? Couldn't anyone just fabricate a red envelope? Maybe there was magic coating it? Well, whatever it was, it didn't concern you too much. As long as it worked.

You took a while to adjust to the lights. People seemed to already be dancing, smiling and chatting. You weren't.. late, were you? No, you were late. But only a few minutes. Huh.

Suddenly, you feel out of place.

What were you doing there?

Your ears hurt.

The music was blasting out.

So many different melodies were mixing, why was this happening--

It was making you tired--

You felt dizzy--

This was overwhelming--

Stop, stop--

You wanted out--

"MISS (Y/N)? IS THAT YOU?"

You definitely would've left the club if you hadn't been noticed. Some monsters glanced your way, some continued dancing. Your ears were ringing. Not due to Papyrus's voice, but due to everything being way too much for you to handle. You bite back a groan.

"Yes," you call out, loudly. Not that loud, though.

"OH! Sorry for shouting-"

"It's fine," you manage with a weak thumbs-up. His voice sounded good in volume compared to the muddled mess playing back to you. Did nobody else hear this? Nobody at all?

"I DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE YOU HERE!" Papyrus exclaimed gleefully, almost picking you up before remembering his previous encounter with you. "ARE YOU HERE WITH ANYONE?"

"No," you respond with a light shrug. "I just came because.. I was invited?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW THEY INVITED HUMANS! IF YOU'RE NOT HERE WITH ANYONE, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS AND I? I'M SURE WE CAN PROVIDE GREAT COMPANY! NOT THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS ISN'T CAPABLE OF PROVIDING COMPANY ON HIS OWN, NYEH HEH HEH!"

He was like a narcissistic child, you realize.

But you didn't mind.

"Suure--- oH MY GOD PAPYRUS PLEASE SLOW DOWN-!"

Papyrus had grabbed your hand after seeming to have heard you, running across at breakneck speeds. He was fast, really really fast, this was hard to keep up with. You stumbled, finding yourself on the second floor. The music seemed to calm down relatively, though there was still muddled tunes playing. Could you please catch a break?

You were wheezing, seating yourself on the ground in a not so lady-like action. Who cared? You really needed to catch your breath.

"Oh, are you okay, (Y/n)?"

Toriel's voice greeted you as you watched her crouch down. She still wore a gown.

People were wearing different outfits-- all seemed suited for some sort of dance, you noted, after looking down from the railing.

The club had a second floor, but the middle was cut open and railing surrounded it, preventing anyone from falling in accidentally. The second floor seemed to be where people were chilling-- some were dancing.

"I'm fine," you inform, slowly getting up. "I.. just. Papyrus is.. a little too fast when running."

Toriel laughed, appearing amused at this. "Yes, he is very passionate about his training. Manages to match Undyne's speed sometimes."

You didn't understand most of that, but you didn't ask.

"So... I assume this is a dance party? That was what the invitation said."

"Oh!" Toriel seemed surprised. "You had an invitation?"

"A dog couple gave it to me," you inform, finding a chair nearby and sitting down in it. Wow, it was one comfy chair.

'Music-maker!' Frisk bounded up to you, signing with gusto. Music maker? 'You're here!'

"Yes, I am."

'Are you going to be monsterkind's friend?'

Oh.

That was.. monsterkind?

That's a bit much. But the kid looked so excited at the idea of a human befriending monsters-- haven't humans befriended monsters before?

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say every monster. Just a.. few?"

"Sorry," Toriel hummed with clear amusement. "Frisk is always so excited at the idea of more human companions."

"It's.. fine."

"huh. didn't know she came."

"I invited her," Toriel hummed. "I thought it would be nice."

You glance to your side, finding Sans. He didn't seem particularly irritated. He wore the same, normal lazy grin he had the first time you had met him. You weren't going to lie, you had half-expected him to pull that whole 'menacing skeleton' act again. You thought he didn't like you much.

"ngAAAAAAAAAH! Your maje- Toriel! COOME! We need judges! Little human, come too! We're having a dance off!"

You watch as the two scurry off to the one you remember as Undyne. A dance off, huh? You wonder how that's going to end. Sans walked over as well-- you didn't plan to go, but you ended up going anyway after being gestured to by Papyrus.

"So what happens in a dance-off?" you muse, mainly to yourself more than to anyone.

"WE HAVE A FRIENDLY COMPETITION, DANCING TOGETHER! IT'S A WAY WE ENJOY OURSELVES!"

"U-Undyne is v-very c-competitive s-sometimes when it c-comes to these t-things.." Alphys muttered, glancing at you. You blink. "T-Thank you f-for earlier."

"It's fine. I'm serious."

"i thought you were (y/n)," Sans snorted, causing you to blink. The fact that it was so bad made you have to fight off an urging smile.

"SANS!"

"sorry, bro. thought it might've put a little _pap_ in her step. she seems tired," Sans commented lazily, causing you to glance over to him.

What?

But you were making sure you weren't showing signs of exhaustion--

Wow this guy was observant.

"OH NO! IS MISS (Y/N) TIRED?"

"No," you smile widely at him. "I am very energetic! Woohoo-! Looks like Undyne is calling for you. You going to dance?"

 **unknown number**  
> Hello, (Y/n)?  
> This is Toriel from yesterday,  
> I apologize for not being able to contact you sooner

You hissed into your pillow at the buzzing of your phone. NoooO- just a few more hours of sleep, please. Today was a day without any work, today was rare enough. After a whole five minutes of not replying, you give in to your inner sense of duty and pick up the phone on your nightstand and read the messages.

Toriel.

Right, the goat person from the dance studio. Oh, shoot; you just now realize you hadn't taken their request into consideration  _at all_  yet. You didn't give yourself much time to. Damnit.

 **(Y/n)**  
> Right.  
> It's fine. I was a bit occupied yesterday, so it's fine.  
> Do you need to meet up?

You got up from your bed, looking around your room. After looking at your phone-- and seeing the lack of response-- you got up to actually shower. You really didn't shower as much as you should've, but whatever. Ha; 'whatever' seemed to be your inner response for just about everything but music.

Man, you were a very, very sad person, weren't you?

You stripped, observing the burn marks. Of course it wouldn't leave immediately. It was a first degree burn; nothing too bad, thankfully. It'd heal in.. what? Four, six days perhaps. You got into the shower, wincing once the water hit your burn-- okay, maybe you should've treated it better. You already cooled it and whatnot yesterday-- maybe you had to do it daily..?

You were a musician, not a doctor.

Your shower was short-lived, as you soon left. You didn't let yourself enjoy the luxuries of a shower too often; you'd rather go and do something productive. Speaking of productiveness--

\--the music.

How were you going to deal with it? You already accepted it. You assumed a medley-like thing was what they wanted, right? So then maybe they weren't only incorporating ballet..? That made the most sense to you.

You stepped out with a towel wrapped around your body snugly. You tossed on whatever seemed comfortable and okay if you had to go out immediately-- a t-shirt and a hoodie coloured (f/c) along with some black leggings. Comfy and also okay for public presentation. You went back in shortly, to brush your teeth and whatnot.

You checked your phone once finished.

 **Toriel**  
> Oh, no! That isn't that case.  
> I merely wanted to check if you were doing okay  
> I was informed that you got attacked at a restaurant?

What? How did she know-- then again, she was queen. Maybe she had her resources-? That made the most sense to you.

 **(Y/n)**  
> I'm fine. It wasn't anything too bad.  
> Just a burn.

You glanced at the name. How plain. Should you change it? You hardly ever gave nicknames when it came to anyone.

 **Toriel**  
> Well, if it ever bothers you, child  
> You can always consult me.  
> I know quite a bit on human healing!

 **(Y/n)**  
> I'll keep that in mind.  
> Thanks.

You turn your phone off, heading to the main living room of your apartment. You surveyed the room, gaze lingering on the red envelope and wrapped candies. Monster candy and the invitation from yesterday.

You still hadn't looked at either, really. Maybe you should? You heard that monster food was.. magical.

You snorted at that thought. Magical food. But then again, you dabbled in a little of.. mixing of strange things.

You shrug inwardly to yourself as you plopped down and unwrapped one candy, inspecting it. It had a white wrapper with a coloured circle inside-- this one had.. a picture of some jelly-like monster. It was red.

So was the candy inside. Strawberry? Cherry? You popped it into your mouth after staring your candy down a bit more, because, well-- who  _doesn't_ stare candy down right before consumption?

Any normal human being, probably.

The candy was sweet and seemed to melt almost immediately in your mouth-- you couldn't say that it was unpleasant. Quite the contrary. The taste was really nice and mild; it wasn't too strong. You couldn't tell what flavour it was supposed to be, but you swore you tasted some sort of fruity tang. You noticed that some of the mild pain was alleviated on your arms. That was nice.

Why did monsters get all the cool things?

Oh, but then again, you supposed humans were assholes. And monsters didn't seem to be.

You pull out your laptop; you should probably read up on burns. You really never got injured, so you had little to no experience with these things. Darn you and your sheltered self.

 _'So,'_  you read over whatever the website had on information.  _'Get cream.. or something?'_

You huffed quietly. That'd require going outside. You probably didn't have any burn cream on you at the moment, unfortunately. You put your laptop aside, eyeing the envelope next.

Well, it was offered to you, so it wouldn't hurt if you read it, right?

You picked it up, inspecting it between your fingers. Seemed plain enough. It hadn't been opened yet; did they reseal it? Or maybe they already knew what it was about.

_**Dear receiver,** _

_**This is an invitation to our yearly dance party for the freedom of monsterkind, July 20th at the address listed below. Feel free to invite others as you see fit!** _

The end had a smiley face along with an address and time. A smiley face? Who put that there? How strange.

You narrowed your eyes at the address. This.. was unfamiliar to you. An unfamiliar address. Aaah. Do you go or not? You might see Toriel there along with the little ambassador, so you could discuss stuff there. Would they want to? It's a party. And you could always meet later.

Ah, choices.

You leave the envelope on the coffee table and slip your sneakers on though not after putting on some socks. You yawn briefly, glancing around your apartment once more. You eyed a blanket-laden shelf. You approached it, lifting it up. Different flasks of different sizes were visible-- Nah, let's not. There wasn't much left to do here. So you went and left the apartment.

The streets were busier once you got closer to the more populated area of Ebott City. The place always seemed to be bustling with people one way or another. People were everywhere, unfortunately for you.

You glance around. A pharmacy would have burn cream, right? You pull out a candy and unwrap it, popping it into your mouth and then stuffed the wrapper in your pocket. Sheesh, the candy was addicting. It was amazing; normally, you were strict when it came to sweets but the monster candy was amazing.

You enter the first drugstore you see, scanning the aisle signs as you entered. What would burn cream be classified as? You supposed you could wander around. It wasn’t going to kill anyone.

“(Y/n)?”

You turn slowly. Feminine, meek voice. Sounded familiar— ah, Alphys. The lizard person.

“Alphys,” you spoke, nodding in acknowledgement. “Hello.”

You wandered off after that, not wanting to linger. Not because you felt uncomfortable-- you weren't sure if the stuttery lizard wanted to talk. She seemed to be anxious around.. just about everything. Humans were probably especially bad since she probably had met bad humans before.

_'Burn creaaam. Where are youuu-'_

_'Aha!'_

After wandering around for a while, you stumbled across what was labeled as 'first-degree burn cream'. You checked the expiration date-- something your mother always did-- and checked the exterior box. It was still closed. Maybe you were being way too paranoid about public shopping like your mother had been-- eh. You were sure it was fine.

You took longer than you should've.

You absently handed the cashier the wad of cash you brought, taking the burn cream without a bag and started towards the door. Right, what to do after treating your burn-- probably just lounge around in your bedroom all day, working on the request... wait, they didn't request any specific or general times.

Augh.

You instinctively looked behind you when you heard the sound of several items clattering to the ground, blinking. The woman at the cash register appeared irritated and Alphys just looked completely miserable and startled.

It didn't take much to figure out what exactly had happened. You assumed that humans were being dicks to monsters. Again.

You were very close to just storming out with a loud 'NOPE!'. But your mind thought differently.

 _'That's not justified!'_  a voice cried within you. The one you named 'Justice', since it was pretty much what made you do things in the name of justice. You hated that voice. It convinced you every single freaking time.  _'Alphys didn't do anything wrong to deserve that, it's like that dog couple! Aren't you going to step in? Or just run away? I know you're not that bad!'_

 _'That wasn't very nice,'_  another voice rang out. This one was the one trying to make you do the kind things. Give people money when they begged you, help strangers out, work some more-- you kind of denied this voice a bit.  _'Poor Alphys... she should be shown kindness..! Wouldn't you agree?'_

 _'Shut up,'_  you groaned inwardly, hand slowly reaching up to your face as it dragged down your cheek.

Yes, you were arguing with yourself. You were a rather crazy fellow, weren't you?

You swore it was almost as if you had split personalities. You internally snorted at that-- you were pretty crazy in the head. This had happened yesterday, too, at the restaurant-- though you were way too annoyed by the guy's treatment to everyone to be bothered with the dumb voices.

 _'You're becoming no better than_ them _,'_  the two voices seemed to chorus.

You shudder at the thought.

_'Fine, whatever. I'll go help Alphys..'_

Who needed friends when you had some random voices in your head? Yeah, mhm.

That aside, you strolled on over to the scene.

"Excuse me, but could you not? I believe you're causing a disturbance and an unnecessary scene," you spoke as politely and respectfully you can. With irritation seeping through.

"What-" the cashier sputtered. Apparently, she didn't expect anyone to walk in and interrupt. "She was the one who started it!"

You had to cringe at the horrible excuse as you watched the woman point to Alphys. Alphys attempted to speak up.

"What's it to you, anyway, huh?" she huffed, glaring.

"It's bothersome when you humans do things like these," you point out calmly. "Besides, there is a line forming, no?"

"Well, this monster should've stayed in hell, where it came from!"

How annoying.

"I believe they came from beneath a mountain, not hell?" you correct. "Though, I suppose I would guess you don't know the difference given how intelligent you are."

She blinked at you, clearly furious.

"Yeah, well, you've clearly hit your head if you're defending  _that thing_."

 _"Guys, look! Look!_ That thing _looks so stupid, cowering like that. Ha, isn't it that witch's child?" a voice snorted. The voice of a twelve-year-old boy. You whimpered, curling up into a ball. It hurt. Hurt, hurt, hurt; you could feel tears pricking the corner of your eyes. What did you ever do?_

_"S-Stop, please.." you mumbled meekly, trying to shuffle away as far as you could. Not that you got far, given the wall they cornered you against. There was another kick followed by a series of laughter. Harsh, cruel, uncaring._

_"Are you trying to order us around? You're not even human, you're a_ monster _. Stop trying to look like the victim! You're a curse to this world! Go **die.** "_

Die.

_Die._

_**Die.** _

Die.

 

 

"She is not a  _thing_ ," you spat. Your patience was wearing thin. "She is very much alive and sentient, thank you."

"Well, she isn't welcome here. She's not allowed to buy anything from here."

You didn't even want to hear whatever stupid excuse.

"Well, I'm buying it all."

You speak with a challenging air, picking up the products from the ground. It was all varying in medicines; creams to pills to liquids. What did Alphys need all this for?

"What-"

"W-Wait-"

"I'm buying this," you state, plopping it all down onto the conveyor. "Is there a problem?"

"Y-Y-You really d-don't need to d-do this-! I-It's okay, I-I'll go somewhere.. else.." Alphys fumbled with her words, appearing surprised. The cashier seemed surprised as well.

You stare the cashier down, gaze unfaltering. You were  _not_  letting a human like this get their way. This was just way too petty. She stared back, though less confident.

Eventually you appeared to win the staring contest.

"Fine," she growled, though looking away as she ran the items through the scanner and plopped it down into a bag. "You're just another stupid monster-lover."

You roll your eyes. This was way too childish. You pay via card, ignoring Alphys's protests. You pull the bag away from the cashier's grip and grabbed Alphys's paw and led her out promptly.

"Do you think you're doing something good by playing hero?" the cashier's voice scoffed, speaking loud enough for you to hear. You made your way out of the pharmacy and

You turn, holding the bag out. You would've spoken-- if it weren't for your words getting stuck in your throat. You could hear a tune playing, loud enough for you to hear. You watch the people from the corner of your eye, some people looking at you strangely.

Oh, okay. Was this related to the thing that happened yesterday with Sans on the bus?

But wouldn't you have heard it before? And this wasn't the first time you met Alphys-- jesus christ, was this going to happen every time you did something nice for a monster? But nothing happened with the dog couple regarding music. So then why? Too many questions. Way too many.

It sounded like techno-pop. It was catchy, you weren't going to lie; you hardly registered your foot tapping to the beat of it. Alphys seemed to be looking at you warily.

"(Y/n)? U-Um, you are (Y/n), r-right? Your eyes look f-familiar.. a-are you.. okay..? I-I'm s-so sorry! I-I really d-didn't mean for you t-to get caught up.. in- i-in that!" Alphys fretted, taking the bag. "L-Let me r-repay you at least..!"

You quickly returned from your thoughts, nodding hesitantly. Oh, did Alphys call you by your name? AaAAAAAH. So much for 'hiding' your identity. Then again, you supposed surgical masks never provided much anonymity. Toriel could learn your face by just asking the two dogs you helped. Keeping a hidden face was suddenly a lot more difficult.

"No! No repayment is in order," you managed, ignoring her question about your identity. "It's fine. She didn't attack me. Uh, okay bye-I-think-my-apartment-is-calling-me-and-I-want-to-go-now, bye!"

You ran into the crowds, being the person amazing at communicating. Running away after somebody thanked you. Perfect, foolproof plan. for being anti social.

 _'Jesus christ, (Y/n),'_  you huffed internally.  _'It was just her saying thank you._

You slowed down to a brisk walk after a while. You were sure she wouldn't really follow you.

~ 0 ~

 **Toriel**  
> Child?  
> Thank you very much for helping Alphys out earlier. That was you, right?  
> We both appreciate it very much.

You were working on their request when Toriel had texted you. You didn't get much down in the few hours you've been sitting there; for some reason, you couldn't get anything down for once. Only the two melodies you heard around Sans and Alphys-- they didn't match exactly (completely matching copies were in another file, you couldn't help but make it into sheet music, okay?) as they were changed to match each other better. How long did Toriel want the song to be, anyway?

You hesitate before confirming who you were.

 **(Y/n)**  
> It was.  
> I didn't do too much.

You snorted. That sounded awfully humble, even for you. You really just didn't want to deal with gratitude.

 **Toriel**  
> How may I repay you?  
> I wouldn't want your actions to go unrewarded. You did pay for the medicine, after all...

 **(Y/n)**  
> I insist. It's okay.  
>I really am fine with knowing that I did something kind for somebody.

Your gaze flicked to the softly lit screen of your laptop before back to your phone.

 **Toriel**  
> Do you perhaps want to attend a little meet up later?  
> I could help you be acquainted with monsterkind..  
> I'm sure you'd enjoy the time there.

Oh god, parties. Noo, no, no. Was she talking about the one in the envelope?

 **(Y/n)**  
> NO  
> I mean, no thank you. I'm not much for partying..

 **Toriel**  
> Is this because you are uncomfortable around large groups of monsters?

The text seemed apprehensive. Unsure. You winced at the message.

 **(Y/n)**  
> no  
> It's not that. I just  
> i feel uncomfortable around crowds

You stared blankly at your text message. It could've come off as an excuse.

God, when did you feel guilty for turning down party invitations?

Never. At least, not until now.

 **Toriel**  
> I'm terribly sorry  
> I didn't intend to try to force you to go to something you're uncomfortable with  
> Forgive me

Ouch. That made you feel really bad. What was with monsters and their way of.. making you feel compliant? You swear they were working magic on you.

 **(Y/n)**  
> No, it's okay  
> I'm being silly  
> I can come, it's okay

You hated monsters.

 _'You know you like them more than humans already,'_  a voice chimed.

And you also hated how right that voice was.

 **Toriel**  
> Oh!  
> Are you sure?  
> I didn't want to pressure you into coming  
> You don't need to, it's okay, I insist

 **(Y/n)**  
> No, really.  
> I really should overcome such feelings, since I do live in a crowded city.  
> I'm coming.  
> I need to go, so goodbye.

After a while, you sent one last message.

 **(Y/n)**  
> Have a nice day.

You ignored the message you got in return, turning to your laptop and flicking to the small digits in the corner of your screen. Ah, Toriel probably sent the time and location. You didn't really need it-- the envelope had that information inside of it. You had a decent amount of time until you should start leaving. Right, where to go.

"Wasn't it an area where most monsters settled, aside from the ones living here?" you mutter, taking the envelope to reconfirm the location.

Oh, wow it was far. Maybe you misjudged the distance.

Okay, you really misjudged the distance.

Aaah, you could deal with that.

Where did you leave the bottle?

You wandered over to the shelf with the blanket and pulled the blanket off carefully, setting it down. You spotted a completely black liquid, pulling out a test tube and you began to pour in the liquid. You didn't use this that often-- it took a lot of magic out of your body. You put it back, covering the shelf with the blanket.

_'All this for a party.'_

You scoffed at yourself for that thought.

Okay, maybe you also wanted to use it because it was  _funwas_  a hot season in Ebott. And you decided to smartly run around in a hoodie. It was usually cooler during the night. You grabbed your bag and stuffed whatever you needed into the bag, including the invitation just in case. Was this attire okay? It was just a 'meet-up' apparently. Given how monsters loved dancing, you assumed you didn't need to wear anything hard to move in.

Time to go... 'partying'. God, this was all really weird to you.

But strangely, you found that you weren't completely opposed to all of this. Wait; when were you so willing to go places for any living being?

Sheesh, monsters really changed you quickly.

You downed a tasteless fluid, feeling the area around you attempt to crush you into a little piece.

But you left as quickly as you entered. The tube clattered to the ground as you stumbled, a little gleeful smile on your face.

Why in the fucking hell did you find that so exhilarating? You were exhausted.

You supposed it was also because of your mother's influence. Y'know what-- you could probably just blame most weird antics of yours on your mother. She was a strange nut, different from most. You loved her, she was amazing. She didn't deserve what she got.

But the nicest people seemed to die the quickest.

You waited a moment before popping the last monster candy into your mouth, picking up the tube and shoving it into your bag and made your way out of the alleyway you had appeared in. The monster candy seemed to ease your tiredness a bit; monsters did wonders.

You looked around, quickly hurrying along the sidewalk. You rarely visited this part of town. When was the last time- oh right. When your mother was first introducing you to the whole transportation formula.

If only she could see how far you got.

You stretch briefly as you walk for a few more minutes. Ten? Maybe more, less? Who knows.

You hum, glancing at what seemed to be a rather large.. club? Oh god. No, maybe you got the address wrong--

\--nope.

Of course not.

You huffed. Clubs were generally very cramped. Maybe this one would be.. less crowded? It looked to be a two-story building.

Okay, well, you're already here. Might as well suck it up and go in. It couldn't be  _that_  bad, could it?

You were stopped by what you assumed to be a bouncer. A large, muscular monster. They were.. very intimidating. It was a bear monster-- a humanoid bear monster. It seemed to glare you down, paw outstretched with the palm up. What did it-

Oh.

You took the envelope out and set it in his paws. You did your best not to be tense with how the bear looked at you. He didn't need to open it before letting you in. Huh. Was that safe? Couldn't anyone just fabricate a red envelope? Maybe there was magic coating it? Well, whatever it was, it didn't concern you too much. As long as it worked.

You took a while to adjust to the lights. People seemed to already be dancing, smiling and chatting. You weren't.. late, were you? No, you were late. But only a few minutes. Huh.

Suddenly, you feel out of place.

What were you doing there?

Your ears hurt.

The music was blasting out.

So many different melodies were mixing, why was this happening--

It was making you tired--

You felt dizzy--

This was overwhelming--

Stop, stop--

You wanted out--

"MISS (Y/N)? IS THAT YOU?"

You definitely would've left the club if you hadn't been noticed. Some monsters glanced your way, some continued dancing. Your ears were ringing. Not due to Papyrus's voice, but due to everything being way too much for you to handle. You bite back a groan.

"Yes," you call out, loudly. Not that loud, though.

"OH! Sorry for shouting-"

"It's fine," you manage with a weak thumbs-up. His voice sounded good in volume compared to the muddled mess playing back to you. Did nobody else hear this? Nobody at all?

"I DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE YOU HERE!" Papyrus exclaimed gleefully, almost picking you up before remembering his previous encounter with you. "ARE YOU HERE WITH ANYONE?"

"No," you respond with a light shrug. "I just came because.. I was invited?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW THEY INVITED HUMANS! IF YOU'RE NOT HERE WITH ANYONE, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS AND I? I'M SURE WE CAN PROVIDE GREAT COMPANY! NOT THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS ISN'T CAPABLE OF PROVIDING COMPANY ON HIS OWN, NYEH HEH HEH!"

He was like a narcissistic child, you realize.

But you didn't mind.

"Suure--- oH MY GOD PAPYRUS PLEASE SLOW DOWN-!"

Papyrus had grabbed your hand after seeming to have heard you, running across at breakneck speeds. He was fast, really really fast, this was hard to keep up with. You stumbled, finding yourself on the second floor. The music seemed to calm down relatively, though there was still muddled tunes playing. Could you please catch a break?

You were wheezing, seating yourself on the ground in a not so lady-like action. Who cared? You really needed to catch your breath.

"Oh, are you okay, (Y/n)?"

Toriel's voice greeted you as you watched her crouch down. She still wore a gown.

People were wearing different outfits-- all seemed suited for some sort of dance, you noted, after looking down from the railing.

The club had a second floor, but the middle was cut open and railing surrounded it, preventing anyone from falling in accidentally. The second floor seemed to be where people were chilling-- some were dancing.

"I'm fine," you inform, slowly getting up. "I.. just. Papyrus is.. a little too fast when running."

Toriel laughed, appearing amused at this. "Yes, he is very passionate about his training. Manages to match Undyne's speed sometimes."

You didn't understand most of that, but you didn't ask.

"So... I assume this is a dance party? That was what the invitation said."

"Oh!" Toriel seemed surprised. "You had an invitation?"

"A dog couple gave it to me," you inform, finding a chair nearby and sitting down in it. Wow, it was one comfy chair.

'Music-maker!' Frisk bounded up to you, signing with gusto. Music maker? 'You're here!'

"Yes, I am."

'Are you going to be monsterkind's friend?'

Oh.

That was.. monsterkind?

That's a bit much. But the kid looked so excited at the idea of a human befriending monsters-- haven't humans befriended monsters before?

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say every monster. Just a.. few?"

"Sorry," Toriel hummed with clear amusement. "Frisk is always so excited at the idea of more human companions."

"It's.. fine."

"huh. didn't know she came."

"I invited her," Toriel hummed. "I thought it would be nice."

You glance to your side, finding Sans. He didn't seem particularly irritated. He wore the same, normal lazy grin he had the first time you had met him. You weren't going to lie, you had half-expected him to pull that whole 'menacing skeleton' act again. You thought he didn't like you much.

"ngAAAAAAAAAH! Your maje- Toriel! COOME! We need judges! Little human, come too! We're having a dance off!"

You watch as the two scurry off to the one you remember as Undyne. A dance off, huh? You wonder how that's going to end. Sans walked over as well-- you didn't plan to go, but you ended up going anyway after being gestured to by Papyrus.

"So what happens in a dance-off?" you muse, mainly to yourself more than to anyone.

"WE HAVE A FRIENDLY COMPETITION, DANCING TOGETHER! IT'S A WAY WE ENJOY OURSELVES!"

"U-Undyne is v-very c-competitive s-sometimes when it c-comes to these t-things.." Alphys muttered, glancing at you. You blink. "T-Thank you f-for earlier."

"It's fine. I'm serious."

"i thought you were (y/n)," Sans snorted, causing you to blink. The fact that it was so bad made you have to fight off an urging smile.

"SANS!"

"sorry, bro. thought it might've put a little  _pap_  in her step. she seems tired," Sans commented lazily, causing you to glance over to him.

What?

But you were making sure you weren't showing signs of exhaustion--

Wow, this guy was observant.

"OH NO! IS MISS (Y/N) TIRED?"

"No," you smile widely at him. "I am very energetic! Woohoo-! Looks like Undyne is calling for you. You going to dance?"

"OH, RIGHT! OF COURSE, DO YOU WANT TO COME WITH? YOU CAN BE MY PARTNER!"

"NoooOOO- I'm fine!" you respond automatically. You were  _not_  dancing. You sucked at every dance  _but_  the waltz. You doubted you could match the skeleton in his type of dancing-- you assumed it was latin dancing. You had no idea how to dance that. "I'll just watch. I don't dance!"

"HM," Papyrus spoke, looking at you. "VERY WELL! WATCH ME, HUMAN! I AM SURE I WILL MESMERIZE YOU.. NYEH HEH HEH!"

Papyrus bounded off.

"He's energetic," you note, blinking.

"yeah. he's pretty cool."

You merely shrug in response. "So what happens in these dan--"

You stagger back when you heard a loud song blare, almost threatening to deafen you. You gasp, stumbling to the ground as your hands clenched into fists. The music was aggressive, energetic, and oh god was it too much--

"woah, kid-!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no, poor reader D: i wonder what happened.
> 
> sorry if this is confusing, i just really enjoy confusing people with how much i put on characters ahaaAA
> 
> (sorryyetnotsorry)
> 
> i need to stop writing these so late. i have time during the day, geez-
> 
> thank you all for reading ^^


	4. aOUIGH3@#%2D#@R

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> haHAHA-
> 
> an update.
> 
> but not much of a new chapter rather than a bunch of nonsense
> 
> stuff got dark fast oops haha

Darkness.

That was all you could make out-- you didn't hear anything. Didn't register much. You just.. felt as if you were floating in a void, immobile. You couldn't move; no, not with the crushing pressure of an invisible force cracking down on you-- on your soul.

Where were you? Were people not supposed to just.. not be aware of this? You were supposed to be unconscious. You knew that while you were unconscious, your sense of awareness (regarding your situation; senses, not so much) weren't supposed to be this.. good.

You could hear your thoughts.

You _were_ unconscious, were you not?

You weren't supposed to be aware of things, last you checked. Huh.

It was almost like you were in the void-- but you weren't dying. Being squashed into a little, insignificant speck of human mush. That was what happened.

Then, there was a garbled voice.

~~**"Oh . . ? So##ONE I# ## he#E."** ~~

A garbled.. noise made itself known to you. You couldn't make out much. They were surprised, that was for sure. What were they saying? God, you felt as if you had just bashed your head against a rock.

"Who's there?" you manage, the menial task of speaking seemed to be a lot harder than it usually was. "Where are you?"

~~**"caN Y## und###TAnd m#?"** ~~

"What are you.. saying..?" you mutter, trying to turn your head around to find the source of the speech. There wasn't anyone that you could see, nobody in sight. The voice seemed to flit around you, annoyingly enough.

~~**"i gu##s nO#. . . p#TY."** ~~

~~**"It#s su#pri#ing th## so##on# iS H#rE, m##h l#ss heR# Al#Ve."** ~~

You groaned, hand futilely trying to reach up to massage your temples. It was hard to focus on the voice without the headache; it was even worse with the headache. But why did you feel as if you had a killer headache?

You gasp, feeling a sharp stab. Your gaze directed downwards, though found nothing lodged in your chest where the stabbing feeling had occurred.

~~**"Y#u# souL. . . i#nteR#ST##g."** ~~

~~**"I th#u##t th# a## oF ALC#m# wA# lO#t."** ~~

You huff, wanting to keel over and throw up. You could hardly think straight with this--

what are you trying to think about?

Why, again, did you feel so out of place in the voiD?

Didn'T YOu belONG In heRE . . ?

~~**"-- deA#. Do#'# geT tr#p##d i# he##."** ~~

เՇ'ร ץ๏ยг ŦคยɭՇ.

Suddenly, an eery, glitchy melody began playing and the pounding in your head multiplied by tenfold. . . no, more.

Your body keeled over, hands reaching up to your head and clutching it. Everyone but the music sounded blurry, you could no longer hear the distortion of the unknown person's voice. The music seemed to be screeching yet it wasn't at the same time; like nails on a chalkboard, torturing you.

_noNO NO NON NO NO NO PLEASE_

You couldn't run.

 ~~heLP ME I~~ ~~rUN AS FA _R You caN_~~

You should be put in your plaCE, SHOULDN'T YOU

 

_"Let's play hide and seek, dear! It's your favourite game,_

_i s N 'T I T?"_

A woman stood in front of you, smiling at you with her hand outstretched, sundress fluttering. You watched, a small hand reaching out. Your hand. It was trembling ever so slightly.

The woman's hands were cold.

The hand flinches back.

 _"whAT'S WRONG?"_ the voice spoke, overpowering the music. _"doN'T You.. L o V e your motHER?"_

Mother?

Your body-- no, not yours, you were merely spectating from their point of view, watching from the little you's perspective-- toppled back.

The lady wasn't your mother.

The music got overbearingly loud, overwhelming. Your sensitive hearing couldn't take it, pleASE STOP-

Bits of your 'mother' were distorted, parts of her flesh drying up and cracking up. Her expression seemed to be frozen in a 'warm' smile-- no. It was frightening, her smile.

"̴͉̙͎̙̑̃̃C̶̹̅̅̈́͘o̵͇͒̄ ̸̩̘̃̇͌̌M̵̢̮̦̆̂͠Ę̵̛̥̻̋̓ ̷͓̎̚͝Ỏ̸͍͈̭̝͝Ņ̵̢̟͗͋̕͠ ̵̬̿̈́͘M̷̧̱͊Ȳ̵̡̢̬ ̸̢͈̤̭̋͛͒C̸̝̱̒͗̑͋Ĥ̷̗͚͈̺̇ị̴̡̝̘̅l̵͇̩̯͂͝d̸̗̙͉͈̆̔͐̈́.̶͍͒̿͑ ̴͖̙̟̤͌Ṫ̷̪̻͌̐̔h̷̨̫̞͎͝i̶̗̘̰̐s̸͚͛̽̔̄ ̸̬̣̏̅͝w̵͎͙̱̥̃̊Ả̷̞͖͙̚̚S̶̰̻̄ ̸͎̺̼͛͂ͅy̶̢̔o̷͉̩͊̓͑͝ų̴̢̩̔̋R̴͍͠ ̵̹̠̈́̔̎͆F̸̟̠͓͍̚A̸̜̰̞̓̕ū̸͂̈́̾͜ ̶̟̈́l̷̖͈͙͊̏̑t̸̪̪́̑́͌ ̴̭̥̀͛́͜͠.̴̦͈͉͆̂͝"̵̛͙̼̱͐

What was she saying? You can't focus, your sight is bleary, blurred. Your head is splitting, splitting gruesomely in half.

_'Someone, anyone, please. Help,'_

 

. . .

**But nobody came.**

 

You can't run from your demons~  
After all, yOU

**SHUTTING DOWN SYSTEM DUE TO ERROR.**

**PLEASE WAIT PATIENTLY, DO NOT LEAVE.**

**.**

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**SUCCESSFUL. YOU MAY TURN YOUR COMPUTER BACK ON AFTER THE SCREEN GOES BLACK.**

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**PLEASE ENTER THE DESIGNATED PASSWORD.**


	5. Well, Aren't Monsters Nice?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aah, yay, a proper chapter ;')  
> i can't say that anything in here is an actual fact on dancetale. take these as my personal headcanons for dancetale, ig..? idk  
> befriending the great papyrus !!!!!! with excessive exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!  
> sorry, not much sans. yet-
> 
> enjoy reading :D
> 
> (p.s. why is whoopee such a... weird word to spell out????)

You awoke with a groan, trying to open your eyes.

However they shut once more immediately upon seeing the blaring lights-- okay, over exaggeration. Your eyes just felt sensitive to the light.

You shifted over. You weren't lying on a ground; it was something that sank a bit with your weight. Something that felt an awful lot like a bed, with sheets over you. Your head on a pillow-- you, strangely, felt a small headache.

Why was that headache there?

Oh well.

You huffed, sitting up slowly and blinking a bit to allow yourself to adjust. You glanced around, instinctually, eyes roaming around for things to observe. Where  _were_  you? It looked like a room. It was hardly decorated, though it had a few things that would be found in a bedroom. So a guest room, perhaps?

You got up, huffing. Wandering over to the only window in the dull room, you opened it and peered outside.

Well, you weren't in your neighbourhood. Or the club area.

Down below, a bunch of monsters were strolling about, an occasional human here and there.  _'That's a lot of monsters. I'm going to assume I'm in the place where monsters were shoved.'_

You winced at that wording; monsters didn't seem to scatter much, sticking together still. You guessed they were probably going to split later when more humans than not stopped blatantly being racist. Speciest?

You turned around just in time to see the door open, the door hardly making a sound. Ah, a non-creaky door. You'd love to have such a thing; the doors in your apartment were creaky and required you to lubricate the door hinges every so and then just for a silent door.

"MISS (Y/N)! YOU ARE AWAKE?!"

Papyrus. You cringed at the volume, your ears strangely oversensitive. What had caused you to feel so bad today? Geez.

"Why are you out of bed?" Papyrus seemed to notice your actions, thankfully. He was rather observant, you noticed. "Shouldn't you still be in bed? Do you okay? Are you sore? Are you feeling tired- no, nevermind, don't sleep anymore.."

"I'm fine," you call out, making your way back to the bed and plopping down. "You're acting as if I was stabbed."

Papyrus seemed to be horrified by this. "You weren't stabbed, were you? I didn't realize your soul would be so sensitive!"

Whaat?

You blinked. Your soul? Sensitive? Please. You had never been in a situation where your soul was being sensitive before.

"Well--"

Suddenly, a large furry figure came rushing in. It took you a moment to realize it was Toriel.

"Oh, child! Are you alright-"

"Papyrus already asked. I'm fine."

Toriel seemed to regard you with doubt.

"Are you sure? You  _have_  been out for two days."

"Sheesh, I said I was fine. Now, I must get goi----"

You paused.

Backtrack a little, please.

_Two days?_

Your bosses were going to be furious with you, turning your one day vacation to three days-- you pause, snorting at yourself internally. First thing you worried about were your jobs. Well, that explained why you felt dehydrated.

But seriously; two days?

"Child, you should eat. Or drink something!" Toriel fretted, her motherly side as clear as day. "It has been two full days! Humans need their food and water..."

Two full days.

_'Jeez, when was the last time I did nothing for two full, actual days?'_

"Sure," you muttered, giving up. You weren't going to lie, you were kind of hungry-- plus.. free food. You guessed. "I'm afraid I shouldn't stay for too long... I don't want to be a burden."

"I assure you," Toriel spoke up. "You aren't a burden."

"Yes!" Papyrus exclaimed. "We enjoy your company!"

_'Well, isn't that new.'_

"..Even so, I still should get home and communicate with my bosses. I did kind of skip two days.."

"Oh, well, I suppose we shouldn't keep you too long.. Please, come downstairs once you are ready."

With that, the two left, Papyrus leaving with a vigorous goodbye and Toriel a small wave. You were still kind of baffled; you were pretty sure you were in one of their houses. Why they let you in was beyond you-- monsters seemed to be way too nice for society today.

You looked around the room once more.  _'What did I bring with me..?'_

Right. Your bag.

That was sitting atop the nightstand next to the bed you had awoken on. You checked the contents-- the possibility of them rummaging through your things was unlikely, but still there and you were kind of paranoid-- finding that nothing was amiss aside from the jostling of a few things, undoubtedly due to your little fall.

You closed your bag, slinging it over your arm as you opened the door slowly and closed it, glancing down the hallway. You were in the end of the hallway; there were several other rooms. Guest rooms and the residents' bedrooms with a small hallway bathroom.

You walked to the bathroom, checking your face. It was slightly paler than usual, you had noticed-- you were usually paler than people with your skin tone, staying inside a lot and all that. You took this as nothing but something that tended to happen after using one of your concoctions that required drawing more magical energy from yourself than regularly tiered ones. Quick transportation was registered as a tier three point five, last you checked.

Not that you checked often.

You were one of the few isolated magic-users-- you were an alchemist specifically, though, so it was less surprising that you didn't cling to a group. Alchemists tended to stick to themselves, only greeting other people of the same type for what usually was business. That, or they were found near other fellow alchemists due to a familial bond-- like you and your mother.

You turn to exit the bathroom, though stumbled back when you found yourself facing a familiar skeleton dressed in a comfortable manner.

Sans.

"Oh," you spoke soon after finding your voice. "You startled me."

"didn't mean to rattle your bones," Sans spoke with a small chuckle-- you were heavily unsure if you could hear that strange song that played during your first encounter. It was so, so faint, so weak-- it made you question your remaining bits of sanity, honestly. It was overpowered quite a bit by the chatting coming from downstairs. "came up here to check on ya, since tori was worrying. y'know, 'bout whether you had decided to say hello to the floor or embrace doors. or.. went to sleep."

"Well, I was just in the bathroom, checking up," you respond with a small shrug. "And by that, I mean staring at a mirror."

"how  _reflective_  of you," he spoke, clearly punning.

 _'At least I'm not_ glassy eyed _like you,'_  you thought, which elicited a small snort from your horrible pun. Would that really apply to Sans? He didn't have eyes, but rather, eye sockets. He definitely seemed to be dazed whenever not spoken to-- speaking of which, his face was strangely expressive when he wanted it to be. You had glimpsed it before.

Right. You supposed he wasn't an undead skeleton, but rather a magical skeleton. But still-- it was weird. It defied science-- which magic seemed to be wonderful at doing.

You merely shrug in response to him, glancing over his shoulder easily into the hall. "Well, I'm done, now. I was about to head downstairs. I will start to go downstairs once you let me."

"right," he responded, moving over.

For a split second, you felt as if that was part of some sort of dance, watching him move--

 _'He was just stepping to the side,'_  you ridiculed yourself.  _'Not dancing.'_

Did he dance? Probably, if you had to guess. All monsters were revealed to be dancers-- you had no idea what brought up the question of whether he danced or not.

You start to head to the stairs, presumably leading to where the monsters in the house would be gathered. You pause when you don't hear any sound of movement (or music, for that part), causing you to glance behind you--

\--and of course, you find San-

..No you don't.

He was nowhere to be seen, surprisingly enough.  _'He.. can teleport, can't he?'_

That would explain a ton of things--  _"a skele-ton,"_  you imagined him saying.

You made your way down the stairs, clutching the railing, a bit lost in your thoughts.

For some reason, you felt as if you didn't go unconscious, felt as if you had some sort of dream if it could be called that-- but there was a weird gap that was left in what you remembered, unlike how you forgot regular dreams.

To be frank, it unnerved you. Made you feel incredibly uncomfortable and confused and irritated all at the same time-- before you met the monsters you met, you probably would still be avoiding any non-clients like the plague and locking yourself inside.

Not.. going out to a dance party.

You searched within your memory a tad bit desperate, for some reason. You-- your soul-- felt.. as if you needed to know this.

Then, there it was-- a melody. A glitchy, eerie tune-- shI- SA-

**Pbbbbbbt.**

You blink, flinching at the sudden noise. What was that--? You.. you were remembering something. But you forgot--

\--because you stepped on a whoopee cushion? You stepped back, on the second last step, staring down at a whoopee cushion you definitely didn't see earlier.

..You only knew of one person who could've done this.

Sans.

Weirdo.

Not that you could talk, though, really. You were incredibly aloof to most sane people.

You huff, picking up the whoopee cushion.

 _'Get Sans back,'_  a childish voice within your mind suggested mischievously. You definitely would've before, when you were younger.

Instead, you toss it onto the nearest wooden table you could find and searched for the kitchen. Even if you had tried to prank him, how would you do it? You would have to be really sneaky and slip it under him somehow. He obviously had the advantage with his magic.

"AND SO! I completely  _destroyed_  the human in that competition-- oh, the girlie's up!" Undyne cut herself off upon noticing your arrival in the homely little kitchen. Okay, perhaps 'little' wasn't a very good description; after all, it fit all the monsters comfortably. It seemed to be the usual group; Toriel, Alphys, Undyne, Sans, Papyrus and Frisk.

Were they perhaps a family of some sort? But they looked different-- and you were pretty sure Toriel was the only royalty.. right? You didn't know; monsters were wildly different from humans in many aspects.

"Yes, I am," you shrug, though it was a little stiff; not because of the unnerving gazes, no. Because there was some sort of jumbled mess, some hella jumbled tunes in the room. While it wasn't super strong, it was audible; it was faint, sure, but there nonetheless. You forced yourself to ignore that. "I apologize for intruding."

"Please, dear," Toriel was the one who spoke up. "I am choosing to allow you to stay; had we not wanted you in here, we wouldn't have taken you here and allowed you to stay."

"I.." you pause; you supposed she was correct. It made little to no sense letting someone in if you didn't want them in there. "...suppose you are right."

"A-A-Are you f-feeling alright..?" Alphys spoke up; no, it was.. more like a timid squeak. Not uncomfortable; she was definitely getting to the point of being comfortable around you. You weren't surprised that it'd take a while for her to get over the whole stuttering.. she seemed to be anxious about a ton of things. "Y-Your soul.. g-gave a strange reaction."

Did it now?

"Yes!" Papyrus chimed. "Human souls are not usually so sensitive to such battles!"

"I.. see," you mutter, pausing as you started to think; so your soul was supposedly overly sensitive. Enough to get you fainting. Damn it, it was hard to focus with the constant noises of the music in the room-- what even triggered that? What triggered the music in the first place?

Too, too many questions. Too many unanswered questions.

"Here. Have some food," Toriel spoke up, a clear and warm smile on her face. She set down a plate-- the contents smelled  _heavenly_ , she could cook no doubt-- with pie on it. Pie?

..Meh, sure, why not.

You took a bite; you weren't a professional chef or anything, but you knew for sure that this was something that was really good-- it didn't dissolve similar to other monster foods; however, it didn't exactly taste as solid as human food..? Perhaps a mix?

"This is good," you mutter, hand over your mouth- a little habit of yours when eating. "What did you use..? I can't tell if this is regular food or monster food--"

"A mix of both," Toriel hummed with a pleased smile. "I've been experimenting around, that's all."

You finish your plate, not leaving much left. You found you were a lot hungrier than you initially expected-- then again, you supposed you had went  _two_  whole days without anything.  _'Do I ask for water or should I just get out right now..?'_

It wasn't that you hated monsters, particularly; that wasn't why you were so eager to leave. You always felt twitchy, tense despite whatever the circumstances were in a place you weren't well acquainted with for far too long.

"..so the present, past and future all walked into one bar," Sans commented casually.

You knew enough jokes to know where this was going.

"And it was  _tense_ , was it not?" you blink, arching a brow. Was that a comment on your posture?

Toriel seemed to be the only one aside from Sans who giggled at the joke, everyone else groaning- in quite the exaggerated manner, too.

"darn, that kinda  _rattled my bones_. didn't expect'cha to respond," Sans mused. He seemed to be considerably less wary; why he was cautious around you at first, you wouldn't know. And you were fine with that-- finding out would require asking him and you weren't much for questioning.

A glass of water was slid your way-- from Sans, who had sat down, as you blinked. It would be a lie if you said you weren't surprised by this gesture; it was kind of.. sweet of him?

You took a sip as Sans spoke.

"so,  _water_  you planning to do after leaving?"

A completely innocent question. Probably. You gulped the water down a bit too quickly at that, quickly smothering a series of chokes as you cursed quietly to yourself. That was a terrible one-- you should've expected it.

But nooo, you just had to struggle with a smile which only encouraged the male further. Toriel seemed to be highly amused by all of this.

"ouch, no  _throat_ y laughter? i'm hurt."

"Maybe it's just taking her a while to  _swallow_  that joke down," Toriel interjected, joking alongside Sans. You took in a deep breath, disguising your snickers as coughs.

"NYEEEEH," Papyrus seemed to be displeased. "I am taking Miss (Y/n) back so she does not have to sit through the rest of the jokes! Miss Toriel, how could you?"

This group was... not tiring, that was for sure. Everything was so dynamic, lively; or maybe you were just one hella tired dump?

"jeez, paps. are you sure? i have a  _skele-ton_  of jokes. don't let 'em  _rattle your bones_  that much, please? i'm not telling ya' a  _fibula_ , i really can't control this."

"Apologies, Papyrus," Toriel spoke in between giggles. Sans and Toriel seemed to get along well. "I've  _goat_  to wonder, though, are the puns that bad? Sans and I take lots of  _chair_  in coming up with these."

"Nyeh!"

"Oh no, not you as well Queen," Undyne groaned, huffing. "Ngaah, well, Alphy and I are leaving now! Right! Now!"

"O-Oh! Right, yes.. t-thank you for letting us v-visit."

The two left through the door shortly, and the jumbled song got a tad bit clearer.

"papyrus, don't let our puns get  _under your s_ \--"

"Let us go! Onwards, we shall sprint at the fastest of speeds!"

Papyrus spoke, dragging you through, barely giving you any time to wave goodbye and thank Toriel. Or find your shoes, really. He seemed to be eager about a lot of things. You huff quietly when the heat hit you.

It really was a very  _warming_  experience--

Ah, Papyrus would hate that joke.

You couldn't help but flinch upon leaving the house; being in the house was tame compared to being outside. So much was going on, it was really dizzying-- but you forced yourself to listen to Papyrus. You'd get used to it, probably. Hopefully.

"Apologies, Miss (Y/n) for Toriel and Sans's jokes! They truly do not know how to hold back, as much as I do not want to insult someone wonderful like Toriel!"

"It's fine," you blink, shrugging. "I don't mind it at all. You don't have to walk me home. S'pretty far, anyway."

"Oh no! Was it a lot of trouble getting to the dancing plac-"

"No! It was fine!" you said quickly in response. "Really. I just need to. Find a bus or something?"

"Public transportation is never safe!" Papyrus stressed. "I insist, I walk you! It is much safer that way!"

_'Right, having attention drawn to the two of us is safe. I don't even know how well humanity has moved on-- judging from previous events, I wouldn't say that they're very friendly. At least, the majority aren't.'_

"..But you might get tired," you counter.

"The Great Papyrus never gets tired!"

"But- uh."

God, he looked really eager. Could you really turn him down? You didn't want to be facing someone who would look similar to a kicked puppy.

..You and your affinity towards cute things.

Curse him.

"Fine," you relented-- too easily, you've softened up dammit-- with a small sigh. "It's going to be a long walk, though..? Can't you just board a taxi with me to ensure my safety?"

"Never!" Papyrus spoke, seeming to be strongly against the idea. "I do not want you becoming as lazy as my brother! That would be a terrible thing!"

"Right."

_'But I'm already hella lazy when it comes to physical activity.'_

"Onwards! We shall run!"

"Wait, run?" you winced. "Uh, I'm not so sure that I should be.. doing that after, uh, collapsing. Maybe we should take it easy?"

"Oh, yes. My apologies, Miss (Y/n), I forgot! How far is your living place?"

You hesitantly told him the address and you could see him pausing.

"That is very far!"

"Yes, very. If you want to qui--"

"Never! The Great and Amazing Papyrus never gives up!! I have gone through worse!"

"..Let's get walking, then," you mumble.

You quickly discovered that, because of Papyrus's tall height, you had to speedwalk half the time before he realized he was going too fast. Seriously, after ten or so minutes of walking you were already feeling tired.

The silence during the walk was extremely awkward; for once, Papyrus wasn't actually talking much. You had gotten strange stares several times before-- not from humans, but monsters. You felt.. somewhat unnerved.

"So!" you speak up. You felt the urge to come up with some sort of conversation.

"Yes?" Papyrus inquired.

Why was he so tense?

"Why is.. everyone- mostly everyone staring at me?"

"..OH!" Papyrus exclaimed quite loudly. "You.. don't know?"

Should you know? You weren't going to lie, you couldn't say you knew much about monsters. Had you done something offensive? Were you wearing anything offensive? Monsters were confusing you.

"Uh, no. Not really. If I did something, I'm really sorry.."

"It's nothing like that," Papyrus hurriedly explained. His voice wasn't as loud as usual, surprisingly. "..It's just, your soul is very open and loud suddenly. It is very startling! Usually one would not be able to sense a human's soul because of how isolated humans have made themselves from their own soul!"

"..Meaning..?" you asked, undoubtedly confused.

"Your emotions and thoughts are very easy to hear and sense," Papyrus explained, fidgeting. "It's in a very vulnerable, weakened state right now."

Right. That's probably really bad. Suddenly, you feel a lot more self conscious and concerned.

"But.. it wasn't before."

"Correct," Papyrus confirmed.

"So then why? What exactly happened?"

"I reckon it has something to do with the dance battle!" Papyrus spoke. "Even though you weren't inside of the encounter. I've seen humans react to it before, but none of their souls were as affected as yours! It was very surprising."

"Oh," you blink. This entire soul thing sounded incredibly complicated. "Why?"

"Well!" Papyrus paused dramatically.

You watch him, waiting for a response you wouldn't understand.

"..I don't know," Papyrus admitted. "I do not know lots about human souls! But!! My lazy brother might, he's always been interested in science of all sorts. Maybe he'll know! Or doctor Alphys! She is also very science-y!!"

"Right, okay," you blink, a tad bit disappointed.

"I am very sorry, Miss (Y/n)! I can probably answer other non-sciency questions, if you want?"

"Huh, okay," you blinked. A chance to learn about monsters-- you either choose to be really nosy and ask a shit ton of questions, or you keep yourself under strict reigns and not ask about stuff. But he  _did_  give permission, so.. it'd be fine, right? "You kept mentioning dance battles. What does that mean?"

"Oh, that's easy! An alternate name for that is an encounter!" Papyrus chimed, stopping you as cars drove by. "It's a way to see other stats aside from pulling the soul out yourself, a way of challenging or being challenged, a way for two monsters to enjoy themselves and dance-- you can do anything in it! Fight, dance, talk, and so on!"

..Couldn't one just do that without that? Hm. Okay then, whatever. You weren't going to question it much.

"What are souls?"

"The very culmination of your being!" Papyrus responded easily, as if everyone knew that. "It's you! Souls can be many colours, there are many different blends of colours. There are six main traits with one trait that's in every human soul."

"What are the soul colours?" you ask. Souls were something that could be coloured? What did souls look like, anyway? You probably should already know this, monsters had been up here for  _two years_  but... you didn't know anything about them.

"Green for kindness, yellow for justice, purple for perseverance, aqua for patience, orange for bravery, dark blue for integrity," Papyrus listed six colours, finishing off with 'determination. "And red is for determination!"

"What's mine?"

"Er.." Papyrus paused, clearly unsure. "I cannot tell you for sure! But I'm sure you're green, you're very nice!"

Ha. Right, sure.

Honestly, being able to ask questions-- most of them undoubtedly pointless-- was a nice distracter; you hardly realized how exhausted you were during the entire time and.. you couldn't deny the fact that it was a very nice change of pace. Papyrus was honestly not that bad to talk to.

"Thanks for walking me back to my apartment complex, seriously," you hum. His happiness was seriously infectious. Your head felt a lot clearer, now, too. The music had thinned out to one consistent melody-- one that you heard from Papyrus, the same one from the club yest-- no, two days ago. "..You're a cool guy."

"I am?" he seemed to be ecstatic at this. "Nyehehehe, of course I am!"

He paused dramatically, grinning a wide skeletal smile at you.

"Could it be? Perhaps you are.. trying to befriend me?!"

"We aren't friends already..?" you joked lightly. "You don't want to befriend me?"

"OH!! No, no, I would love to be friends with you, Miss (Y/n)!!"

"Wonderful. You know, you don't have to call me 'Miss (Y/n)', y'know. It feels weirdly formal."

"..?! Could it be.. are you.. fliRTING WITH ME?!"

Wait, what?

Pardon?

"Uh-"

"Oh no!! I don't know what to do! Nyeheh.. I will flirt back!" Papyrus exclaimed. This goof. "You are very pretty!"

"..Thanks?"

"You're welcome," he proclaimed, seeming to be quite satisfied with himself.

"Do you, maybe, want to come in?" you ask. "I mean, if you're tired or thirsty. I have water and stuff- oh, uh, but it's not.. magical? So I dunno if you can consume that being a skeleton.."

You blinked when Papyrus seemed to lean closer to you, watching you very intently.

"..No way!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Are you already trying to ask me out on a date?? Nyeh!"

Okay, okay, stop. Flirting was cool, but you didn't want that big of a misunderstanding.

"Uh, no. It's.. more like a friendly thing. Y'know, platonic."

"Hmm... I can't right now!" Papyrus spoke. "I must get back before my brother worries!"

Ah, so Sans was a protective brother..?

"But!! Do not fear, for I will hang out platonically with you again some other day!" Papyrus pulled out a slip of paper with numbers scrawled onto it, surprising you. The writing was quite neat. "..In case you are feeling  _phonely_! Farewell, (Y/n)!"

"Goodbye, Papyrus."

 

...

 

He said a pun, didn't he.

You snicker, wandering up to your apartment and almost immediately heading to your laptop, turning it on. You opened up the music you were working on and started to convert the music in your head to notes online. You deemed it.. 'Papyrus's Song' for now. You'd come up with better names later, for all three songs.

You glanced at your phone, turning it on to immediately find a bunch of texts.

..But you decided to relax first for the first time in your life. You had never really prioritized your relaxation first before work or anything else, but you weren't in the mood to deal with an onslaught of worried texts-- and potentially angry texts from a certain manager-- being as happy as you were in the moment.

Maybe monsters really weren't as bad as humans; they had brought you home, protected you, after all. You.. actually kind of wanted to be a part of their group, be a part of something outside of work. The thought was a little scary; you were someone who hid inside their apartment a lot, after all. 

You forced your excitement to calm. You had only really conversed with Papyrus-- and he was a precious cinnamon roll, you couldn't deny that-- and he had been extremely kind to you. Confident, sometimes overly so, but he was a good guy. Monsters had yet to prove themselves to be assholes.

You sighed quietly, inspecting your arm. It was still burned and you hadn't..

..wait, it was looking considerably better. Could it- could someone have healed you? But nobody really knew about your little burn unless.. the dog couple had informed Toriel? Or someone else? No, it was probably Toriel.  Huh. Your arm dropped down, hanging down loosely from the couch.

Maybe you should get up and actually go to bed-- the couch wasn't exactly comfy-- but you found yourself far too exhausted. How long did you walk, anyway? You were only now starting to notice after Papyrus had left you be. That was undoubtedly the most exercise you had done in quite a while. But strangely, you didn't mind.

 _'Ma,'_  you laid on your couch, staring up at the plain ceiling.  _'Maybe talking to other living beings isn't so bad.'_


	6. Soul Songs and Work. Oh, and Some Sans.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you don't know how long i spent trying to figure out what to write ack- i was attacked by every writer's worst enemy; writer's bloCK AAHFJWDHFJKWEUGF  
> \--in the end, it's just more stuff about little miss reader here and her acquaintances, so-
> 
> ..............ok maybe it also had something to do with my obsession of making chapters somewhat long instead of making them, like, 1k words each bcs i'm like; woah i wanna have long chapters.
> 
>  
> 
> .....imsorryfortakingwaytoolongtoupdateoops

Okay, you take back everything you thought about communication with living beings.

Speaking to the manager of the little retail shop you were working at was absolutely _brutal_. Okay; to be fair, you never particularly enjoyed the place and it you mainly kept the job because it gave you something to occupy your time with. And nobody nice really popped by.

..Yeaah, you got fired from that job. The manager hated you and you supposed she had been looking for a reason to fire you-- no biggie. You weren't going to going to go broke or anything. 

 

_You stared down your manager, who seemed to be irritated by how... apathetic you were being._

_"I didn't give you two days to relax. How_ could _you give yourself more days? You didn't even contact me with any stupid excuses for your absence. This is outrageous-!"_

_"Mmhm," you merely nodded, glancing around._

_"..You're fired," the clearly angered female spat, pointing out to the door._

 

That didn't really affect you much; should it? Thankfully-- though you kind of did expect her to worry instead of just firing you-- you kept the job at the restaurant. That was good enough; it wasn't going to make you rich, but it'd work. Priscilla was.. like a balloon that popped under stress, you supposed. She essentially spammed you with a bunch of worried texts and once you got there in person, she just interrogated you.

..Which was what you were going through right now.

"Yes," you huff in an exasperated manner, throwing your arms up for emphasis. "All that happened was that I passed out and I was brought to Toriel's house. That was it. Nothing. They didn't poison me or use magic on me; I'm perfectly fine, don't you see? You should at least feel it. You are a green mage, are you not?"

You watch as Priscilla narrowed her eyes at you, hands clasped together with her elbows on the table separating both parties. She was taking this way too seriously.

"I am, but do you know how many times you hide that pain?" Priscilla huffed, pouting. "I'm not so advanced that I can see through your magicky illusions and whatnot!"

"It's not magic, it's merely the effects of potions," you reminded her.

"Geeeez, you wouldn't even let me heal your burn-- speaking of which, you actually healed it?"

Oh, right. That. You spoke, "I guess one of the monsters healed me while I was unconscious? I dunno. It was going to heal sooner or later, there's no need to use magic for every little injury.."

"You know how bad you are at maintaining HoPe," Priscilla scolded. "..At least it didn't change at all, I guess."

Priscilla. She definitely wasn't an ordinary person; honestly, why did you even ever think that you could make.. 'normal' acquaintances-- uh, or friends. You just _had_ to attract the weird ones, the ones who weren't like other humans. Monsters, mages-- you didn't enjoy being associated with most living life forms that could talk and walk.

"Besides," you continue, leaning back in the chair that you were _tied to_. Seriously; was any of this necessary? "It's not like you're my family or something."

"Might as well be!" Priscilla huffed. "You were entrusted to me by your mother. As someone who made a promise-- as a _mage_ who made a promise to the infamous alchemist-- _Ophelia_ \-- I can't just.. not let this go ignored!"

"Overreacting. You're overreacting," you stated bluntly, sighing. Maybe you should just accept your fate and be chewed out by Priscilla. Of all people, you had to end up with the one who was constantly fretting over safety.

"Am I not allowed to worry? You know, your soul has changed a little." Priscilla stretched, standing up to poke your cheek. "It's shining more brightly, but it's also associated with something peculiar. I don't like it."

You blinked, actually listening intently for once.

Yet again. Someone said that there was something wrong with your soul, that it was different. Something along the lines of that.

"It has a condition that I can't heal," Priscilla said, bending down a bit to untie the knots she created. You stood up immediately upon being released and rubbed your wrists.

"At last. I am free."

"Don't be so dramatic, (Y/n)," Priscilla mused, putting the ropes to the side. She eyed you curiously. "Y'know, your soul isn't the only thing that's been changing. Your personality, too."

"How so?" you blinked. Had you really been changing in terms of personality? You hadn't noticed anything. your (e/c) eyes flicked over to the clock mounted on the wall nearby. The restaurant didn't open quite yet. Priscilla really did make you come early-- okay, maybe it wasn't Priscilla but rather yourself that had brought yourself to the restaurant so early. In the end, you had woken up early to speak to her. Hey; you preferred to clear things up earlier than later.

"You're speaking a lot more for one," Priscilla explained, sticking one finger up; her index finger. Then another went up, making a 'V' shape. "You also threw some customers out entirely before to defend the monsters--"

"--They were annoying. That's all," you interjected.

Priscilla shrugged. "Still! You're a lot less.. mmh, how do I put it? Stoic? Uncaring? You mentioned going to some dance party. That's.."

"..Unlike me, I know," you finished. "Maybe I just felt in the mood-"

"Ha, you only ever became in the mood for dancing when it involved waltzing, and that was in the past," Priscilla snorted. 

..You had no argument against that. You frown slightly; had you actually become that different? Was it that obvious? You seriously hadn't noticed-- at all. ..And you were supposed to be observant. Oops.

"Fine," you huffed, crossing your arms and seeming like an indignant child in that moment. "Maybe I have changed, then. Well, if this talk is done and over with, I guess I can start setting up early since I'm already here."

You hum quietly as you start towards towards one of the empty rooms so you could change--

\--or not.

"Oh no you don't."

Priscilla pulled you in by the back of your shirt and you flailed around (though that hardly fazed her..) pouting. You spoke, "Buuut Priscillaaa- I already missed two days worth of work, and-"

"No! You get time to recover," Priscilla interjected. "I don't want to be working my little (Y/n) to the core the moment she suddenly awakes from her deep, deep slumber!"

"It was only two days. At least I didn't die of thirst," you commented nonchalantly, shrugging whilst still being held in her grasp.

"But you never take breaks. Just go and chill; maybe actually mingle with society for once?"

"Aaagh, what brought this on?"

"After that, I'll stop nagging you and I'll let you work to your heart's content," Priscilla suggested.

"...You're sure? Promise?"

"..Eeeeh, yeah, but only for a while- if I see you collapsing or something, I'm going back to being the mom, mmkay?" Priscilla let go of your shirt, causing you to stumble forward a bit as you hadn't been anticipating that. You glanced over to her and gave her a (very out-of-character) thumbs up.

"Got'cha, fine. No guarantee that I won't meander home and work from there!"

* * *

"It's gradual, but she really is starting to change. I wonder why," Priscilla mused, speaking quietly to herself as soon as she saw (Y/n) leave. "Ah, no. That's probably wrong, I have a few suspicions.."

Priscilla sighed, shifting around the room to start organizing the area despite it already being relatively clean. This was to be expected from Priscilla, though; someone who enjoyed tidying and keeping things clean whether it was in decent shape already or not.

"Maybe I really should've paid more attention to that girl," Priscilla muttered quietly, closing her eyes for a moment. "...Ah, well, I'm sure the monsters she met can help with what I couldn't help with.. I hope."

Her eyes opened once more and Priscilla strode into the front of the restaurant, making coffee for herself.

"How quickly will she learn the truth?"

* * *

You stretch, glancing around. How long had you been walking? Probably a few measly minutes. You had decided to go out for a walk-- hm. You pondered the changes you seemed to be undergoing; you were starting to go outside more.. _willingly_. The previous, isolated you would've snickered at that idea.

Haa.

You were in a strangely good mood, despite having a rough morning-- being fired, being tied up against some chair against your will... yeah, not the typical morning for you. Ack, did Priscilla cast some kind of spell on you to make you feel all light and cheerful?

..You could now practically see the image of Priscilla's hands adopting the green tint it usually did whenever her magic was being used, being used discreetly.

..Eh, she wouldn't, right?

Oh, but she would. Definitely.

You huff, stretching slightly as you continued walking aimlessly. You probably should pay more attention to your surroundings-- like the street that you passed, in which a car literally almost ran you over-- but.. meh. You found yourself strangely light-headed.

Okay, the effects of healing from whoever healed your burn started to kick in. You had forgotten about that, really; part of the reason why you didn't enjoy healing too much was due to the after effects. Light-headedness, maybe fatigue, since healing took a little bit of energy from the other person. Healing, contrary to popular belief, doesn't exactly work with just nothing.

_What should I be doing?_

You stopped, frowning to yourself. You had no idea what one did when trying to have a day off. Do they laze around? Or do they go out? Do they socialize? _So frustrating. I should do something productive._

...

..

_Libraries!_

Those places counted as a place to relax, right? Plus, you could look for information about one topic in particular.

Music and monsters.

You were quickly growing fascinated with how you seemed to hear music by monsters, with nobody else having that particular... ability? Skill? Let's go with ability.

The question was, how were you to find it..? You could always ask, but... that required _talking_ to people. You had already done a lot of talking to people you didn't know that wasn't for work. You were only good with socialization when it was for business...

_Eh, I can just look for it on my own... they label what's what, right?_

You turned and began walking towards the known library in this area - it was one where both humans and monsters could go. You had never gone to this one in particular - you never actually went to libraries. The collection at home that your mother left behind was more than enough, after all.

You approached the building, reading the sign - it still read 'librarby'. You had no idea why that was, but you ignored it. It was almost endearing, in a way. Though, it probably angered people who cared about spelling a lot.

_Pfft, that would be amusing to see. Someone flipping out because library was spelled wrong._

You entered the libra...rby.

"Um, let's see..." you muttered, looking around. "Where would information on monsterkind be? If there is one."

You were mumbling to yourself, walking about in search of the shelf you need. Sure enough, you found an aisle - on your own, too, yipee - on monsters. Perhaps you should start taking a closer look at monster food? That might prove useful. You still had no idea if monster food would affect you positively or not; you were a magical being as well.

That aside.

"Books on music..." you trailed off. _Huh? Isn't that the music that plays when--_

"oh? you sure you can _handel_ yourself over there? looking for books on music in a monster section?"

You paused. Had he put emphasis on the word handle--

\--oh.

"You do puns on composers' names, too??" you asked.

"yep. so, what'cha looking for?"

"Oh - uh... something on music? Like, uh..."

"uh," Sans repeated, amused.

"Uh."

_Wow, I sound very... poetic._

"Do you happen to know anything in regards to.. music playing whenever someone's near a monster? There's stuff playing right now, actually."

"...you-"

Sans seemed confused. Then, surprised.

"-nevermind. sure, kiddo. this way."

Sans lead you towards the end of the shelf, pausing. Then, he picked a book out.

He handed said book over to you. You took a glance at the title.

_Soul songs?_

There didn't seem to be an author indicated for this book. Which was strange. You opened it to the first page.

**Soul songs are only heard near monsters, when one's listening capabilities heightens to accomodate the ability to hear what is known to be soul songs. Not all monsters have them; the weaker kind usually lacks a soul song.**

"s'that what you're looking for?"

"Umm... I think so?" you responded, thumbing through the pages until you reached a bit about humans.

**Humans aren't usually capable of hearing soul songs. However, there are few rare cases - humans who could hear these songs were more numerous in the past, before the war. Any human with a large threshold of magic is capable hearing a soul song.**

_Oh. That makes sense, since I.. I'm a witch. Still, why couldn't I hear it before? The soul songs._

You flipped to the next page, looking for information to satisfy your need for knowledge. Information is power, after all.

**Usually, these abilities are not discovered until the human with this ability comes into contact with a boss monster. Upon activating the ability, it will come and go randomly.**

"Huh, interesting..." It started around when you met Sans. Was he a boss monster..?

"it is, isn't it?"

You were startled; you had entirely forgotten about Sans while trying to figure out what was wrong with you. Well, it wasn't that something was wrong with you... you just had an uncommon ability, apparently.

"I forgot you were here."

"why, i'm hurt," he responded, not sounding hurt. "y'know, it isn't _write_ to ignore people when they've helped you."

You ignored the pun.

"Sorry, Sans," you responded, trailing off. You were tempted to... pull out some (irrelevant) puns. Sans enjoyed them, right? "In fact, I am _berry sore_ -y a _book_ ignoring you."

_Ugh, that was really, really bad. Why am I doing this to myself-_

"..."

Sans was silent. Oh no.

"pfft," he snorted. "three puns? i'm going to take this as a challenge."

"Please don't," you huff in response, lips twitching up into a smile. This kind of short, pointless conversation was nice. "I doubt I'd be able to win... I wouldn't be able to stand all the bad puns."

"hey, they're great. you just don't have a _sans_ of humour."

"...Psh," you stuck your tongue out at him - which was quite childish of you. You paused when he stuck his tongue out, though.

You probably stared a bit longer than you should have, but hey. It was... glowing. Sure, it was blue, but it was >em>glowing!

"It's glowing??" you voiced your thoughts aloud.

Sans only seemed amused, tongue being pulled back. "you're not pointing out how it's blue? or that i have one?"

"I'm not pointing out that you're a skeleton or that you have glowing... pinpricks for eyes."

"ok, ok, touché."

You were glad he seemed to be opening up bit by bit; the first meeting, he seemed to be... on guard, against you. As if you were going to, like, murder his entire family or something.

"So, I'm going to just go and check the book out."

"wait."

"Yeah?" you asked, pausing and glancing over to him.

"i'm sure you don't need to be told this, but... **don't mess with monsterkind, or else... well, you'll have a bad time.** "

_Yikes, he's serious. That sounds like a menacing line from some kinda villain. His eyelights went out and all, it's a little... eerie._

Just as you finished you observations, you let out a strangled gasp. Not because you were scared - no. The music around, the laid-back tune, distorted. Into something.. that you-

"Ugh--"

"..shit, uh, you okay over there-"

Then, as quickly as it came, everything was eerily silent.

Then, the music started up again.

"...Yeah," you manage, composing yourself. "Sorry, uh. You don't have to worry, I won't harm monsters unless I, uh, need to defend myself..."

"..."

"...Not that I probably would need to?" you shrug. "They seem nice."

"neato," Sans spoke, finally seeming to relax. "sorry, gotta stay cautious, nothing against you."

"..Right," you nodded. "I'll be going if that's all."

You turned and began walking to the counter with the librarian - still wondering what just happened. Maybe it would be in the book. You'd have to check later.

"Thank you," you mutter, turning around - only to bump into... Papyrus?

_So they're both here._

"WOWIE!" Papyrus exclaimed. You quickly gestured him to quiet down. This was still a library. Papyrus cleared his throat - how? "Oops, sorry! What a coincidence, we were just discussing you."

"told ya she was here, paps," Sans spoke.

"And right you were, brother!" Papyrus exclaimed. "This is perfect, you two can go on a date now!"

"wait, what?"

"What??"


	7. What A Lovely... Friendship Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you go on a date with snas :D

"Uh..."

You weren't sure how to take that. It wass definitely sudden and a surprise - judging from Sans' reaction, he hadn't been expecting something like that.

"that might be too soon for (y/n)," Sans spoke up.

"Too soon for me??" you questioned, squinting at the skeleton.

"yep," Sans nodded, that lazy grin of his still resting on his face. "you might not be prepared for the sansational me."

"SANS!" Papyrus huffed, exasperated. He was met with a 'shush' from the librarian. "Sorry. Anyways, Sans! No punning."

"you're smiling."

"I am and I hate it!"

You had to admit, you found the little exchange between the skeletal brothers to be amusing. They seemed to be quite close - you almost wished you had siblings. You hadn't quite grown up with anyone except for your mother and her friends. You had mostly hung out with adults rather than kids near your age. Most kids at the age of seven or so were offput by your demeanour.

You couldn't help it - you were naturally cold and cut off from most of society. Sure, there were children who tried to talk to you, but you... didn't take too kindly to people talking to you back then.

Plus, there was the whole 'witch' thing where almost everyone was terrified of witches or anything scary. Just look at the time where monsters came up from beneath Mount Ebott - the vast majority reacted negatively. Because it was far beyond what they knew. Some took it well, fighting valiantly for monster rights. Still, it was always the majority that had a say in anything.

"...Isn't that right, (Y/n)?"

"Huh?" you blinked, snapped out of your internal monologue. "Um, yeah."

_Oh, probably shouldn't agree to something before confirming what it was._

"Actually-" you began, though cut off by Papyrus.

"Exactly! The human couldn't have put it any better. You two are coming with me!" Papyrus cheered, dragging both of you out. You struggled somewhat. Sans, from what you saw, didn't quite struggle, only allowing himself to be dragged by the taller skeleton. Maybe this happened frequently? "Nyeh! Heh! Heh!"

"Wait, what are we doing?" you asked Sans. He shrugged in response.

"bond over a nice, romantic candlelit dinner. friendship goals, that stuff."

"Sans, it's the morning."

"eh, it's dinnertime somewhere else."

"Papyrus, where are we going?" you asked, trying to escape from his grip to walk on your own. "By the way, I can walk."

Papyrus let go of you, causing you to stumble as you followed him. "Why, to both where Sans and I live! What better way to become friends than to eat the Great Papyrus's friendship spaghetti?"

"O..kay," you responded uncertainly.

_What have I gotten myself into?_

You used to have all the control over your life - partially because you didn't associate with anyone. Now, you were letting yourself be dragged along on a... friendship date? With spaghetti? Your mother would've been so proud. Instead of being worried about how you were just being abruptly dragged to some guy's house to have a date with his brother, she'd probably behave like a teenager. Asking you how it went, if she could meet your new 'boyfriend'.

Not that this date was going to mean anything.

"WE HAVE ARRIVED!" Papyrus proclaimed, opening his arms wide and presenting the little house as if it was a mansion. "TO OUR HUMBLE ABODE!"

It wasn't a bad house; nor was it huge. However, it did appear cosy and... were those _Christmas_ lights hanging from their rooftop which still had... snow?? On the roof? Despite it being a nice summer day??? That was the oddest thing about the house. There were also two mailboxes - one about to explode due to the amount of letters in it and the other scarce from what you could see.

"It looks very homey," you muttered to yourself.

"it does, doesn't it?" Sans mused - he seemed to have heard you when you muttered. 

"NOW, LET'S GO INSIDE, SHALL WE?"

_He's still using that loud shouting voice,_ you noted idly.

The three of you went inside. It felt and looked just as home-like as the exterior. There was the living room and kitchen on the first floor. Then, there were stairs up to a second area with two - maybe three? - rooms. Presumably bedrooms. Papyrus spoke up.

"NOW, YOU TWO CAN TALK AND GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER WHILE I PREPARE THE MEAL!"

You nodded wordlessly. You had zero idea of how to proceed forth. You weren't good with talking to people unless you've known them for ages - like Priscilla. You met Sans maybe... a few days ago. You contemplated running away. _Actually, that might be a bad idea. They are able to contact me, so I'd have to face them again sooner or later._

"so. i guess you can just look around, just..." Sans paused. You watched as he tapped his nose - or, well, where his nose would be. "...don't be too _nosy_."

You rolled your eyes, ignoring the fact that the dumb pun was tugging a smirk out of you. "You can't use that if you don't have a nose."

"eh, that's _nose_ problem."

"Do you just practice puns in front of the mirror all day?" you spoke, almost chuckling at the thought. 

Sans shrugged in response, "well, i don't _see_ why not. though, i guess i just didn't have much to do."

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled, head popping out from behind the wall. He wore a chef's hat and apron. "ARE YOU PUNNING WITH THE HUMAN?? POOR HUMAN!"

"im _pasta_ ble. me? punning?" Sans snorted. "never."

You let out a quiet chuckle when you heard Papyrus groan in an exaggerated manner, popping back into the kitchen. A few explosions and enraged skeleton yells occurred shortly after.

"..Is he... okay in there?" you questioned, mildly concerned. You heard something about a dog.

"eh, he'll be fine," Sans spoke. He didn't seem too worried. "the dog probably got back in."

"What??"

"the annoying one."

_Wow, that answers everything._

"..I don't really get it, but okay," you spoke. Sans went and seated himself on the couch - you opted for looking around a bit. You were mildly curious about a few... peculiar - uh, decorations..?

You looked around the room, gaze stopping at a cluster of sticky notes stuck on the wall above a lone sock. You squinted -

_Is that Sans and Papyrus?? The font??_

You went in closer, squinting. A shocking - though maybe it shouldn't have been too shocking - realization dawned upon you. _Oh my god, their handwriting is in comic sans and papyrus._

You briefly wondered how that was even possible - assuming this was all written with pen. How could someone write in _Papyrus_?? And to be able to write in comic sans so perfectly... it was comical, in a way. _Imagine them having to hand in a hand-written essay to someone like... a university professor. Oh my god._

You snickered quietly to yourself at the thought.

"THE PASTA IS READY!" Papyrus called out eventually, causing you to look up. _That was fast. I thought pasta took longer to cook... why does it feel so hot..?_

You disregarded that, walking towards the dining table by the kitchen. You sat down, blinking when you saw Sans appear opposite of your seat - how had he..?

_Teleportation?_

"HERE IS MY FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI!"

"bone appétit," Sans spoke, grinning lazily.

"SAAANS!"

You directed your attention away from the skeletons, observing the plate of pasta that was set down in front of you. It looked... burned. Not too bad - it was probably edible. Probably more so than your... uh, concoctions you called 'dinner'. You picked up the fork, ignoring the stares that practically bore holes into your head. _Do they always stare at whoever eats the spaghetti?_

You twirled some pasta onto the fork. Then stuck it in your mouth, unwavering. You chewed it thoughtfully. Once you finished eating, you spoke.

"It's... not bad. Granted, it's a bit.. uh, crispy, but edible..?"

"Oh," Papyrus responded, seeming downtrodden.

_Oh, I feel bad._

"Well-"

"NO MATTER! I WILL TAKE THAT AS REASON TO STRIVE TO BE BETTER!" Papyrus interrupted you again, voice cheerful and determined. "NOW, YOU TWO, ENJOY!"

Papyrus spun out of the door, which somehow had opened during the event. He appeared once more.

"NYEH!"

And then disappeared.

You snickered. _What the heck?_

You continued eating the pasta, going over your past decisions. What exactly had triggered this multitude of events? Maybe it was because you had been a minute late. You had rushed over days ago, and probably dropped one of your cards in the hurry. Or maybe they would've sought you out anyways..? A lot could've happened. Life was a tricky thing. The smallest things could create huge change - you believed that was called the 'butterfly effect'.

"welp, i hope you won't be too annoyed by my bro," Sans spoke up, disturbing the silence. You glanced over to him; half of his pasta had already been consumed. 

_Strangely enough, I'm not annoyed._

"It's alright. It wasn't like I had anything to do. Except for, uh, research, I guess," you shrugged, glancing over to the book you had placed down on the dinner table a while ago.

"are you always this awkward on dates?" 

"I wouldn't know, considering this is my first 'date'."

_Wow, saying that out loud makes me feel pathetic. How old am? Twenty something. And this is my first date - it's not even an actual date._

You had never been interested in the idea of dating. You lived a lot longer than humans - though not as long as a pure witch. Your father ended up dying early on, so you never really knew him too much. He was a human, according to your mother. Humans were weak and fragile; all you had ever been surrounded by were mostly humans. You were surprised someone like Priscilla even existed. Monsters... well, now you were pretty sure that there were probably vampires somewhere. Or werewolves.

More silence came between you two as you both ate your spaghetti.

_Does this mean that we're not compatible or something? Aren't friends supposed to hit it off immediately - oh, then again, I didn't hit it off immediately with Priscilla. We despised each other at first."_

"so, where are your parents?" 

"Dead," you responded curtly. 

_"...oh. i'm sorry."_

"Don't be, it's not related to you at all. Unless you actually murdered my parents all those years ago and I just never realized. Then you should be sorry." 

Sans snorted at that. "nah, i was too busy being underground." 

"You mean, busy being lazy?" 

"exactly," Sans nodded in agreement. You watched as he ate yet another forkful of pasta - staring intently. _Where do I get a book on skeletal monsters?_

Sans seemed to notice your stare. 

"magic," he spoke. As if he had been asked how he ate before - which he probably has, if he had ever eaten in a public restaurant or something. 

"Magic is a shit explanation," you responded, finishing off your pasta. It wasn't too bad - maybe not restaurant quality. It tasted like someone's first time cooking pasta without a recipe. 

Sans just shrugged. 

"magic's the only thing that can explain us," he spoke. His pasta had... wait - did it just disappear? "monsters are maaagical." 

"I'm sure there's some sort of science behind it," you mused. Even with your own potions and whatnot had science behind them - just... not human science. More like science that is incomprehensible. 

__Oh. So magic._ _

"eh, yeah, just too much effort to explain-" 

Sans was cut off by Papyrus barreling in through the window. You flinched, almost falling out of your chair. You stared wide-eyed at Papyrus, who stood in front of a now-shattered mirror. 

"WONDERFUL! STEP ONE IS FINISHED, NOW ONTO STEP TWO! A LONG WALK ON THE BEACH BENEATH THE STARS... SUN." 

"Wait, there's more?" 

You blinked as you were promptly tugged away from the table by Papyrus and outside. _I feel like one of those elementary kids out on a walk, being led around on a leash._

"huh, i didn't know paps planned so much of this out."

"You and me both," you responded. 

"NYEHEHEH. I PLAN EVERYTHING OUT! I AM A MASTER AT PLANNING!"

"you're the best, bro."

"YES, THE GREATEST!"

Soon, you found yourself standing on a beach. _Huh, didn't know there was a beach so nearby._ Maybe you just never paid much attention to anything beyond where you needed to go. Despite the fact that you lived in Ebott City for the vast majority of your life, you still found yourself discovering new places every so often. You only really knew the location of the retail store you used to work at, Priscilla's restaurant, the dance studio, your apartment, local supermarkets, and shops that aided with all of your musical needs.

"I WILL NOW LEAVE YOU TWO! NOW, GO ON!"

You let yourself be pushed forth by Papyrus, following Sans. You really didn't dress for the beach. The beach was the last place you thought you'd go to, today.

You looked back, finding that Papyrus seemed to be watching you two. You blinked, looking forward. Then to Sans.

"Does this happen often? You get pulled into a friendship date to have spaghetti before lunchtime and walk on the beach afterwards with the victim?"

You began to walk alongside Sans, deciding to humour Papyrus. The further you two got from Papyrus, the quieter his... 'soul song' seemed to get.

"...can't say that this hasn't happened before. though, it usually stopped shortly after we went to the beach. the human usually just went to go play with paps," Sans admitted.

"Wow, you weren't handsome enough for them?" you joked hesitantly.

"nope," Sans responded easily. "none of them wanted me as a _bone_ friend."

"I don't see why not," you mused, letting yourself slip. "After all, you are quite the _humerus_ one."

Sans's grin seemed to widen at that. "why, i'm happy i tickle your _funny-bone_."

"I'm out of skeleton puns."

"tibia honest," Sans responded. "i don't mind. i'll just have to teach you more."

"Yes, oh great pun-master," you rolled your eyes, smiling. "Teach me your secrets."

"well, i can't show you all the _skeletons in my closet_."

"Well, that's..." you trailed off. You had no pun. Not skeleton-related ones, anyways. But music puns? You were _loaded_. "That's _fine_. I have some secrets of my own that I'm _Haydn_."

The skeleton seemed to have noticed your music puns.

"wow, i want to say that i'm in love with you already, but that might _2/4_ ward of me," he grinned. "i _reed_ ly dunno how to _handel_ romance."

" _Sopra-no_ , _reed_ ly? I thought you could, given how much of a _natural_ you are at this."

"hey, i already used that one."

"Pfft, yeah, and you already used the Handel one," you snickered. "I'm surprised you know about composition and instruments. And human composers. Even most humans don't know who Handel is."

"well, i did make sure to study up. gotta increase my pun-capabilities if i'm going to talk to humans who compose. can't have a conversation without a pun, after all."

"Oh, a conversation with you without a pun? I've known for less than a week, and I already know that such a conversation is rare."

"i'm glad to know that you know me well," Sans spoke. "in fact, why don't you tell me about yourself as well? i'd love to know more about you."

"Are you flirting?" you asked, quirking an eyebrow up. Sans waggled his... brow-bones.

"maybe."

"Stop," you snorted. "So what do you want to know?"

"are you single?" he winked.

"No, I'm married to my computer. We have many memories together."

"pity," he chortled. "jokes aside,"

Suddenly, the mood seemed to drop from lighthearted to serious.

" _what are you, exactly?_ "

You stopped walking, frozen. You quickly forced yourself out of the surprise and continued walking to act as if he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. The music you hear by Sans seemed to distort ever so slightly...

"Just your typical awkward, punny human," you answered casually. "Why do you ask?"

"curiousity," he responded, tone even.

Silence. It was almost as if the two of you guys had just met for the first time - as if the little pun war you both just had didn't happen.

"you know," Sans began. The music was intense, now. "it's not good to lie, _little miss mage._ "

_...Mage? Like what Priscilla is?_

"I'm not a mage," you spoke. It was technically true. You didn't draw magic around you to use - you just made potions that regular people weren't capable of making.

"oh, i know you aren't, but it's the closest guess i have. so, what are you?"

"A human, like I said," you insisted, determined. You didn't want to quite tell him what you were, though he was already beginning to seem to treat you like how others did once they started suspecting you...

_"Witch!"_

_"Monster!"_

_"Demon!"_

_"Go die, nobody likes ugly witches like you!"_

_"Stay away from me!"_

_"Eek, don't curse me!"_

_"Go away, we don't wanna play with you!"_

_"You're going to curse me! Mommy!!"_

You rarely had anyone who associated with you. But there was one time. One time you let your guard down. You had been a fool; you let someone befriend you. It was one visit to your apartment with your mother that tore everything down, that essentially scarred you. The scars weren't physical - they were more mental. At that time, you didn't know how to handle your emotions too well.

That said person? They discovered who you were. _What_ you were.

It didn't end very well for you.

"...Look," you muttered. "Drop it, please?"

You didn't want to sound weak. But your voice was quieter than usual, fists clenched.

_Ugh, I thought I got rid of these dumb emotions already._

"sorry," he said, gaze still curious. Heck, he seemed even _more_ curious. You weren't sure how he was going to react, but he didn't seem to like mages judging by how he uttered the word.

"S'fine."

The little outing soured quickly. You were a little disappointed.

"Well, I'm going to go," you said after a while of staring at the skeleton. You looked away uncomfortably. "Bye."

"...yeah, see you."

 

 

_I'm sorry._


End file.
